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Minor MLB Transactions: 4/18/19

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Some minor moves from around the game…

  • The White Sox signed catcher Brett Nicholas to a minor league contract, per Baseball America’s Kegan Lowe. The 30-year-old is a career .252/.300/.456 hitter in a limited sample of 110 plate appearances, all coming with the Rangers back in 2016-17. Nicholas spent the 2018 season with the Padres’ Triple-A club and, as he’s done in the past, hit well at that level — particularly for a catcher. In 456 PAs last year, Nicholas hit .291/.353/.485 with 16 homers. He’s a lifetime .285/.337/.440 hitter in 2125 PAs at that level. He spent Spring Training with the Rockies but was granted his release late in camp after a rough 1-for-20 showing. Defensively, Nicholas has a marginally below-average 26 percent caught-stealing rate in his pro career, but his framing marks in Triple-A are consistently poor. He’ll give the Sox another depth piece behind Welington Castillo and James McCann.

Latest On Braves’ Bullpen

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After losing closer Arodys Vizcaino to season-ending shoulder surgery Wednesday, Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos unsurprisingly acknowledged that his club will consider multiple avenues to improving what was already a struggling relief corps (links via MLB.com’s Mark Bowman and Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Atlanta, per Anthopoulos, is going to look to “do what we can … both internally and externally.”

Vague as the comment may be, the minds of all Braves fans are zeroed in on one name: free-agent Craig Kimbrel. However, both Bowman and Burns suggest that a match between Kimbrel and the Braves remains unlikely, as the team isn’t keen on inking its former closer to a multi-year pact. Cognizant of upcoming restrictions on their international spending abilities, the Braves are apparently also placing an extra emphasis on the draft pick they’d forfeit to sign Kimbrel. It’d be a surprise if that were a primary factor in their thinking, though. Atlanta already has a deep farm, and they recently ensured that their two brightest young stars will be on the roster for upwards of a decade. Stockpiling depth and trade capital is an ever-important endeavor, but draft forfeitures shouldn’t be the primary roadblock if the two sides eventually land in the same ballpark in terms of years and dollars.

It seems there’s still a gap, although Kimbrel’s precise asking price isn’t clear. A weekend report from The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal pegged Kimbrel’s price point at something in the vicinity of the three-year deals received by Wade Davis ($52MM) and Zack Britton ($39MM) over the past two offseasons, but even those contracts have a fairly notable range between them. For Atlanta, the annual value isn’t a sticking point so much as the length. A three-year deal, per Burns, “is a commitment the Braves won’t make.”

The question for the Braves, if Kimbrel isn’t the solution, becomes one of where they can turn for improvement. The free-agent market is rather bare beyond him at this point. Old friend Bud Norris remains unsigned but, like Kimbrel, wouldn’t be ready immediately. Veteran Ryan Madson is without a team, but as of early February, he was reportedly pondering whether he even planned to pitch in 2019. He’d need even longer to get up to speed.

The mid-April trade market isn’t likely to be any better, as most teams will be reluctant to sell off veteran assets so early. The Blue Jays made a pair of early moves to ship out Kendrys Morales and Kevin Pillar, but financial motivations and a desire to clear space for younger players fueled those deals. Their bullpen isn’t in the same situation. There’s sure to be some depth hitting the waiver wire in the coming weeks, but Atlanta doesn’t have a strong waiver priority, and the preference would presumably be to add more stability than someone who’d recently been designated for assignment anyhow.

Barring a drop in Kimbrel’s asking price, the likeliest outcome looks to be that the Braves try to patch things from within. To this point, none of their vaunted young starting pitching prospects have been tried out as a reliever (with the exception of a lone Touki Toussaint long-relief appearance following a short Sean Newcomb start). It’s worth seeing whether someone like Toussaint, Kyle Wright or Bryse Wilson can step up in the late innings as the team looks for ways to help a relief corps that entered play Wednesday with a 5.43 ERA before being saddled with its second loss in as many days.

NL Central Notes: Burnes, Wood, Pirates

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A fourth ugly start to open the season has put Corbin Burnes’ spot in the Brewers’ rotation in jeopardy, writes Tom Haurdricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. “I think we’re going to have a longer conversation this time, and try to figure out what the best way to get him on track is,” said manager Craig Counsell after today’s loss. Counsell wouldn’t guarantee another start for Burnes and spoke of how he thought Burnes threw the ball well but had some mistakes punished in his first few starts; regarding Wednesday’s loss, however, Counsell suggested that Burnes didn’t throw as well and left far too many pitches in the middle of the plate — an assessment with which Burnes himself agreed. With Freddy Peralta hitting the injured list, bouncing Burnes from the rotation would create even more uncertainty in a starting staff that is already accompanied by plenty of questions.

Here’s more from the division…

  • The Reds don’t expect Alex Wood to make his team debut until sometime in May, per Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Acquired to help round out a revamped rotation, Wood hasn’t pitched in a game setting since late February due to back spasms. A setback at the end of camp pushed his timetable for a return back even further, but he’s now slated for a bullpen session Saturday. The lefty will need multiple rehab starts before he can be considered a big league option, though for the time being, Wood tells Nightengale he’s only focused on coming out of his upcoming bullpen session feeling strong. Given how long it’s been since he’s pitched in a game, the latter half of May seems more plausible than the early portion for a return.
  • The Pirates’ lack of a move to truly address shortstop this offseason has led to some early questions at the position, as Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette addresses in his latest mailbag column. Trade acquisition Erik Gonzalez is hitting just .217/.308/.304 through 54 plate appearances, while prospect Kevin Newman has made a pair of errors in 17 innings a year after grading poorly there in a small sample of 182 innings. Brink notes that Cole Tucker could be a consideration at some point, but he likely won’t be promoted until he’s past the potential cutoff for Super Two status in mid June. Brink also notes that moving Jung Ho Kang to shortstop and playing Colin Moran at third base full time doesn’t appear to be in the cards now. He goes on to look ahead to next year’s free-agent market as well as Tyler Glasnow’s success in Tampa Bay in a column that has plenty of interesting info for Buccos fans.

Athletics Place Marco Estrada On Injured List

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The A’s announced Wednesday that they’ve placed righty Marco Estrada on the 10-day injured list due to a lumbar strain in his back. Fellow right-hander Chris Bassitt is coming up from Triple-A Las Vegas to take his spot on the roster and figures to be an option to step into in the rotation as well.

There’s no word yet on just how long Estrada is expected to miss, although the 35-year-old has a history of back issues in recent seasons. Estrada has twice missed time in the past due to back troubles and has pitched through a herniated disk in his back as well.

He’s off to a rough start in his new surroundings, having surrendered 19 runs (18 earned) on 23 hits and eight walks with 11 strikeouts in 23 2/3 frames. The long ball has plagued Estrada in the past, but his troubles with that issue are more pronounced than ever so far in 2019; in those 23 2/3 innings, he’s already given up seven home runs. His velocity, while never a strong point, is nevertheless down as well, as his fastball is averaging a career-low 87.4 mph that lags well behind last year’s average of 88.6 mph.

Estrada told reporters this afternoon that he’s been trying to pitch through discomfort but reached a point where he felt unable to do so (Twitter link via the San Francisco Chronicle’s John Shea). “I don’t hit guys. I don’t walk guys,” said Estrada, who walked three batters and hit another in 3 1/3 innings yesterday. “I couldn’t pitch yesterday.”

Oakland signed Estrada to a one-year, $4MM contract this offseason in hopes that he could bounce back from a down year in Toronto and serve as an affordable rotation stabilizer. The A’s have a number of arms on the mend from 2018 surgery — Sean Manaea, Jharel Cotton, A.J. Puk and Daniel Gossett among them — and are leaning on a somewhat patchwork group to hold things together at the moment.

Mike Fiers, Brett Anderson, Frankie Montas and Aaron Brooks are all in the rotation at the moment, while Daniel Mengden, Paul Blackburn and Tanner Anderson are all in Triple-A. The A’s also signed righty Edwin Jackson to a minor league contract last week, and he’ll provide further depth once he’s up to speed.

Rangers Sign Jen-Ho Tseng To Minor League Deal

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The Rangers announced Wednesday that they’ve signed right-hander Jen-Ho Tseng to a minor league contract. The former Cubs righty, who was designated for assignment released recently, will head to extended Spring Training begin a throwing program, per Rangers executive vice president of communications John Blake.

Tseng, 24, was a fairly high-profile signing for the Cubs back in 2013, receiving a $1.625MM signing bonus as an 18-year-old amateur out of Taiwan. He was considered one of the Cubs’ more promising young arms for years after his signing and breezed through much of his minor league tenure, posting quality numbers against older, more experienced competition en route to a brief cup of coffee with the big league team in 2017.

The 2018 season, however, was a disaster for Tseng. After logging a 1.80 ERA in 55 1/3 Triple-A innings in 2017, Tseng was tattooed for a 6.27 earned run average in 136 1/3 frames there last year. He allowed a career-high 2.9 walks per nine innings pitched and a career-worst 1.32 homers per nine frames in last year’s ugly showing. While Tseng’s modest strikeout rate made that 2017 ERA look ripe for at least some regression even at the time, few would’ve expected such a stark downturn in his performance. Spring Training wasn’t any prettier in 2019, as Tseng yielded eight runs on eight hits and two walks with just one strikeout in 4 2/3 innings in Major League camp.

Those struggles were enough for the Cubs to move on, but the Rangers, known to be on the lookout for rotation depth, are in a better position to give a chance to a young arm not far removed from success in the upper minors. Unlike the Cubs, the Rangers didn’t enter the season with legitimate postseason aspirations. Given the patchwork nature of their rotation (plus injuries to Yohander Mendez and Edinson Volquez), Texas not only has a need for depth but also a relatively clear path to an opportunity for Tseng if he can get out to a strong start once he joins a minor league affiliate.

Arodys Vizcaino Undergoes Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery

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The Braves have announced that closer Arodys Vizcaino has undergone season-ending shoulder surgery. The procedure involved a labrum clean-up and the removal of scar tissue.

This news represents a major hit to a Braves relief unit that was already under fire. That’s true of many other clubs — including several division rivals — but that doesn’t make it easier to bear. A.J. Minter, the club’s other top option for the ninth inning, has scuffled out of the gates. Others in the bullpen currently include Wes Parsons, Luke Jackson, Jesse Biddle, Shane Carle and Chad Sobotka, although of that bunch, Carle and Sobotka have struggled quite a bit in the season’s first few weeks.

The Atlanta organization isn’t short on promising arms in the upper minors, though the bulk of their top-regarded arms are in rotation roles. Bryse Wilson and Kyle Wright opened the year in the big league rotation, in fact, though each has since been optioned down to Triple-A Gwinnett. Southpaws Luiz Gohara and Kolby Allard are both starting at the Triple-A level as well.

Right-hander Mike Soroka, arguably the most promising young arm the Braves have in-house, didn’t appear to be an option in the hours leading up to the news on Vizcaino’s shoulder. To the contrary, Mark Bowman of MLB.com tweeted that afternoon that it’s likely that Soroka will be recalled to start tomorrow’s game for the Braves. He’ll at least temporarily step into a rotation that is expected to get top starter Mike Foltynewicz back by the end of the month.

It won’t go unnoticed that there is still a rather prominent free agent reliever still left unsigned. Long-time Braves closer extraordinaire Craig Kimbrel held talks earlier in the winter but failed to come to terms with the value-conscious Atlanta organization. He’s still reportedly seeking a multi-year deal; the Braves will be loath to commit to a lengthy accord, but Kimbrel’s leverage may be on the rise as late-inning relief units falter around baseball.

Signing Kimbrel before the June draft would cost the Braves a pick in the 2020 draft, as Kimbrel rejected a qualifying offer from the Red Sox upon conclusion of the 2018 season. Nevertheless, the on-paper fit is now more pronounced than ever, and fan outcry for the organization to broker a reunion with an already beloved franchise icon has been audible since late in the offseason.

The Braves kicked off the winter with a high-profile signing of Josh Donaldson but then went largely dormant, negotiating only small-scale returns for Brian McCann and Nick Markakis. At the time of the Markakis signing, general manager Alex Anthopoulos spoke of the contract’s below-market rate perhaps giving the team flexibility to make further moves down the line — in addition to Braves leadership already having spoken of increased spending capacity earlier in the winter — but that has yet to come to fruition.

As for Vizcaino, the injury may well prove to be the end of his Braves tenure. The hard-throwing righty entered the season with five years, 168 days of Major League service time, meaning he’s already now surpassed the six-year service mark needed to qualify for free agency. Perhaps the Braves will look to retain him on a bargain contract next offseason, but Vizcaino will have the ability to listen to offers from any and all interested parties. He’ll quite likely be forced to settle for a one-year deal with a low base salary and plenty of incentives, if not a minor league contract, as teams throughout the league look at him as a potential bounceback candidate. He won’t turn 29 until November, though, so at the very least, Vizcaino will have age on his side in free agency.

Giants Notes: Park Dimensions, Bart, Roster Shuffling

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Giants leadership will consider some alterations to the dimensions of their spacious home park, Andrew Baggarly and Eno Sarris of The Athletic report in an exhaustive look at the matter (subscription required). Members of the ownership group posed the question of whether the right-field fences should be moved in and whether the bullpens should be moved to new president of baseball ops Farhan Zaidi in Spring Training; the first-year baseball ops leader agreed that it was at least worth exploring. Manager Bruce Bochy suggested to Baggarly that “Triples Alley” in right field would make an ideal spot for the bullpens to be relocated. “Personally, I feel if you hit a ball 400 feet, it should be a home run,” said the skipper. “So yeah, I think we should all be open minded to making a change.” Zaidi, meanwhile, stressed that the discussion is in its nascent stages. While he’s appreciative of the manner in which park-specific idiosyncrasies can impact roster construction, Zaidi also spoke of not “becoming so idiosyncratic that you become an outlier” that proves disadvantageous. Baggarly and Sarris explore just how much of an outlier the newly renamed stadium has become and also interview several players about the park’s dimensions.

More out of San Francisco…

  • Top prospect Joey Bart, the No. 2 overall pick in last year’s draft, will miss the next four to six weeks of action due to a fractured left hand, Bochy announced to reporters Tuesday (link via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). The injury occurred Monday when the highly touted young catcher was hit by a pitch. Broadcaster Joe Ritzo, who covers the Giants’ affiliate in San Jose where Bart was injured, tweets that farm director Kyle Haines suggested that the team could send Bart to the Arizona Fall League after the 2019 season as a means of making up for some of the plate appearances he’ll miss while he’s down with the injury. The 22-year-old Bart hit .298/.369/.613 in 203 plate appearances for the Giants’ Low-A affiliate in 2018 and was off to a .270/.341/.541 start through 10 games and 41 plate appearances in 2019.
  • Over the weekend, Kerry Crowley of the San Jose Mercury News took a look at Zaidi’s frequent shuffling on the fringes of the 40-man roster, noting that since being hired to his new post, the former Dodgers GM has made 11 trades, six waiver claims and designated 12 players for assignment. It’s old hat for fans who’ve followed the Dodgers tireless roster machinations over the years, but many Giants fans were taken aback by the deluge of roster moves — particularly with so many transactions involving unfamiliar names. “This was kind of the (roster) configuration we’ve been looking for for awhile so hopefully these guys can settle into their roles,” Zaidi told Crowley, referencing the recent additions of Kevin Pillar and Tyler Austin. Zaidi goes on to discuss that despite what some onlookers may think, the decision to cut ties with even fringe roster players is never made lightly and is never an easy one.

David Robertson Diagnosed With Flexor Strain

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April 16: Robertson has been diagnosed with a Grade 1 flexor strain, manager Gabe Kapler said following tonight’s game (Twitter link via the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Matt Breen). He’ll be shut down from throwing for the next couple of days before being reevaluated.

April 15: The Phillies announced Monday that they’ve placed right-hander David Robertson on the 10-day injured list due to soreness in his right elbow. Fellow righty Drew Anderson was recalled from Triple-A Lehigh Valley in his place. Robertson tells reporters that he’s had some on-and-off forearm discomfort and is set to receive an MRI tomorrow, though he’s not overly concerned about the issue at the moment (Twitter link via Philly.com’s Scott Lauber).

Robertson, 34, signed a two-year contract worth a guaranteed $23MM this winter and has struggled through a slow start to the season. The veteran righty allowed runs in each of his first three appearances with his new club and, overall, has yielded a total of four runs on eight hits and six walks with six strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings of relief. Robertson has thrown just 58 percent of his pitches for strikes in that small sample of innings — a departure from recent seasons when his overall strike rate has sat at 63 percent or better.

Notably, this is the first trip time in his career that Robertson has ever missed time due to an arm injury. He spent about two weeks on the shelf due to a groin strain in 2014 and missed a bit more than three weeks due to an oblique injury in 2012, but he came to the Phillies with a pristine track record in terms of arm health.

With Robertson sidelined for the time being, Anderson will get a look for a third consecutive season. The 25-year-old hasn’t found much success in the big leagues yet but also hasn’t had much of an opportunity; in 15 Major League frames, he’s surrendered 13 runs on 23 hits with a more impressive 13-to-3 K/BB ratio. Anderson has spent the vast majority of his career as a starter and owns a 3.90 ERA with 7.3 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9 in 115 1/3 innings (21 starts) at the Triple-A level.

Cody Asche Signs With Atlantic League’s Sugar Land Skeeters

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Former big league infielder/outfielder Cody Asche has agreed to a deal with the Sugar Land Skeeters of the independent Atlantic League, Mike Ashmore of the Trentonian reports (via Twitter).

Still just 28 years of age, Asche was once one of the more well-regarded prospects in the Phillies’ system and viewed as a possible long-term piece in the organization. Back in 2013, Asche clobbered Triple-A pitching at a .295/.352/.485 clip as a 23-year-old and found himself promoted to the big leagues for the season’s final two months. The 2011 fourth-round pick sandwiched a highly productive stretch (.299/.364/.504 over 33 games) between a pair of slumps during that debut campaign, creating some hope that he’d establish himself the following season.

Unfortunately, that never came to be. Asche’s OPS in each of his first three MLB seasons sat between .689 and .699, and by the time the Phillies eventually cut bait on the once-promising third baseman in 2016, he’d amassed a .240/.298/.385 line in nearly 1300 MLB plate appearances. Asche received a brief look with the White Sox in 2017 but couldn’t get his bat going in a new setting either. He split the 2018 campaign between the Triple-A affiliates for the Yankees and Mets but slumped to the worst minor league performance of his career.

Despite last year’s poor results in Triple-A, Asche is still a career .275/.352/.469 hitter in parts of six seasons at that level. He’ll be one of several former big leaguers on the Skeeters roster in 2019, as the Sugar Land club’s roster also includes James Loney, Alec Asher, Mark Lowe, Ryan Schimpf, Felipe Paulino and Jean Machi, among others.

Indians Select Mike Freeman

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The Indians announced Tuesday that they’ve selected the contract of infielder Mike Freeman from Triple-A Columbus and optioned fellow infielder Eric Stamets to Triple-A Columbus in his place. A corresponding 40-man move wasn’t required, as Cleveland had only 39 players on its 40-man.

Freeman, 31, has seen sparse action in the Majors in each of the past three seasons (including one lone plate appearance with the Cubs in 2018), hitting a combined .134/.211/.207 across 91 plate appearances. Lackluster as that small-sample output may be, Freeman is an accomplished Triple-A hitter, as evidenced by a lifetime .305/.372/.418 slash through 2030 PAs at that level. While he’s light on power, Freeman has consistently managed to hit for average and get on base at the top minor league level. He’s walked in 9.2 percent of those 2030 PAs in Triple-A and kept his strikeout rate to a relatively low 16.8 percent.

Track record aside, Freeman needn’t do much to give the Indians at least a modest uptick in offensive production. The 27-year-old Stamets made his big league debut on Opening Day this season and has seen regular work in 15 games. However, he’s collected just two hits and five walks in 48 trips to the plate, resulting in a disheartening .049/.149/.073 slash in his first look at MLB pitching. As a glove-first player, there’s perhaps hope that Stamets could eventually fill a utility spot with the organization, but he looked decidedly overmatched in trying to step into some enormous shoes with Francisco Lindor on the shelf.

Thankfully for Cleveland fans, there’s hope on the horizon with regard to Lindor; the star shortstop embarked on a Triple-A rehab assignment tonight.

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