Blue Jays Designate Ramon Ortiz For Assignment
The Blue Jays designated righty Ramon Ortiz for assignment, tweets Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca. Ortiz, 40, tossed 23 1/3 innings for the Jays this year, most recently in relief of Brandon Morrow today after his early exit due to forearm soreness. Thad Weber, who also was scored upon in today's loss against the Braves, was optioned to Triple-A.
Ortiz picked up a ring with the 2002 World Champion Angels, a club for which he tallied a career-high 217 1/3 regular season innings before adding 13 more in the postseason. With 87 career wins, Ortiz is currently tied at 44th with Adam Wainwright. Signed by the Blue Jays to a minor league deal in December, Ortiz had his contract selected April 15th, was designated for assignment April 23rd, rejoined the 40-man roster on May 9th, and was removed again today.
Dr. Lewis Yocum Passes Away
Today baseball is mourning the loss of Dr. Lewis Yocum, the well-known sports surgeon who had served as the Angels' team physician. Yocum, 66, fell victim to liver cancer. Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times has a statement from the team:
"The Angels family and Major League Baseball have lost one of baseball’s finest gentlemen and a truly outstanding professional with the passing of Dr. Yocum. His talents extended the careers of countless professional athletes, and he extended quality of life for so many others he advised, treated and operated on during his distinguished career. His contributions and impact in the medical field will long be remembered across the country. He represents the standard for others in his profession to attain."
Several MLB players have already extended their condolences for the man who helped extend their careers, including Jordan Zimmermann, LaTroy Hawkins, C.J. Wilson, Josh Tomlin, Vinnie Pestano, and Mike Aviles.
Potential Non-Tender Candidates
The non-tender deadline is December 2nd this year, a mere six months away. Let's take a look at some arbitration eligible players who might be on the chopping (or at least trading) block before then due to the combination of rising salaries and lackluster performance.
- Ike Davis, Mets. If Davis doesn't turn things around this year, what will the Mets do in the offseason? One thing about a player having a terrible year is that he doesn't get a big arbitration raise afterward. So if Davis' salary for next year is to remain below $4MM, the Mets would at least be able to find a team willing to see if a change of scenery helps.
- Clayton Richard, Padres. The pitch-to-contact thing doesn't work so well when you also walk a bunch of guys and over 30% of your flyballs leave the yard. Richard is earning $5.24MM, and should his struggles persist, I imagine the Padres would not bring him back even at the same salary.
- James McDonald, Pirates. McDonald's velocity is down, and walks have been a problem. He's at $3.25MM this year and sports a 5.76 ERA.
- Luke Hochevar, Royals. This is a tricky one. Hochevar's move to the bullpen has gone well, but will the team want to commit $5-6MM for a reliever in 2014?
- John Axford, Brewers. Axford quickly lost his closer job again and has a 6.33 ERA on the season. The silver lining is that he is unscored upon in his last seven appearances. Axford's save totals have gotten him to $5MM already, and even if he doesn't add any more this year and keeps pitching well, it will be a tough call to retain him through arbitration.
- Chris Perez, Indians. Similarly, saves have gotten Perez up to a $7.3MM salary. He's struggled with walks this year and is currently on the DL with shoulder soreness. If he comes back, pitches OK, and adds some more saves, the Indians might have a hard time committing $8MM+ for 2014. Perez would probably be more of a trade candidate than a non-tender candidate.
- Ryan Roberts, Rays. Already earning nearly $3MM, Roberts has a .236/.288/.364 line so far.
- Jeff Niemann, Rays. Niemann had shoulder surgery in April, and the Rays will be forced in December to decide whether his 2014 season might be worth $3MM.
- Alfredo Aceves, Red Sox. Aceves survived last year's non-tender deadline and scored a $2.65MM salary, and the team wasn't able to trade him. A 6.57 ERA so far in 2013 earned him a demotion today, so he might not make it to the non-tender deadline.
- A few more non-tender candidates to consider: Nolan Reimold, Emilio Bonifacio, Roger Bernadina, Chris Heisey, Chris Getz, Brennan Boesch, Sam Fuld, John Lannan, Marc Rzepczynski, and Chris Volstad.
- Plenty of other arbitration eligible players probably aren't non-tender candidates, though their teams could be reluctant to pay them higher salaries through arbitration. A few names that come to mind in this bracket include Rick Porcello, Alex Avila, Tommy Hanson, Pedro Alvarez, Ivan Nova, Phil Coke, and Mitchell Boggs. Some of these players could become trade candidates if their current teams prefer not to pay them next year.
Outrighted To Triple-A: Buckner, Rondon
Today's minor moves…
- The Angels outrighted righty Billy Buckner to Triple-A, tweets J.P. Hoornstra of the Los Angeles News Group. Buckner had been designated for assignment Sunday to make room for Kevin Jepsen. Buckner, 29, has a 4.56 ERA, 7.6 K/9, 4.8 BB/9, and 0.57 HR/9 in 47 1/3 Triple-A innings this year, and he also fired five scoreless innings to beat the Royals on Saturday. Buckner was drafted by the Royals in the second round in '04, a round which also produced notable big leaguers Dustin Pedroia, Hunter Pence, Yovani Gallardo, Kurt Suzuki, Jason Vargas, and Seth Smith. The Royals ultimately traded Buckner to the Diamondbacks in '07 for Alberto Callaspo, who was eventually dealt to the Angels for pitchers Sean O'Sullivan and Will Smith. Smith remains in the Royals' organization, serving as rotation depth at Triple-A.
- The Yankees outrighted southpaw Francisco Rondon to Triple-A yesterday, according to the International League transactions page. Rondon had been designated for assignment Saturday, upon the Yankees' waiver claim of David Huff. The 25-year-old Rondon has a 7.46 ERA, 6.9 K/9, 6.4 BB/9, and 1.29 HR/9 in 35 Double-A innings this year. He became a six-year minor league free agent at the end of last season, but the Yankees re-signed him in October and added him to the 40-man roster in November to prevent him from being taken in the Rule 5 draft, as Mike Axisa of River Ave. Blues explained.
- Six players currently reside in DFA limbo: Edinson Rincon of the Padres, Ramon Ortiz of the Blue Jays, Michael Bowden of the Cubs, Robert Andino and Francisco Martinez of the Mariners, and Ben Francisco of the Yankees.
Cardinals To Promote Michael Wacha
The Cardinals announced today they will promote righty Michael Wacha to start Thursday against the Royals, tweets Danny Knobler of CBS Sports and others. The Cards had scratched Wacha from his Monday start in anticipation of the possibility of having him start Thursday in place of the injured John Gast. The Cardinals will need a 40-man roster spot for Wacha, but that can be opened easily by transferring Jaime Garcia to the 60-day DL.
Wacha, 21, was drafted 19th overall by the Cardinals last year out of Texas A&M, a pick the team received from the Angels as part of the compensation for the loss of Albert Pujols. Wacha made nine starts at Triple-A this year, posting a 2.05 ERA, 5.8 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, and 0.85 HR/9 in 52 2/3 innings. He'll be the fourth member of the 2012 draft class to reach the bigs, after Paco Rodriguez of the Dodgers, Kevin Gausman of the Orioles, and Michael Roth of the Angels. Prior to the season, Wacha ranked 76th on Baseball America's top 100 prospects list and the same on MLB.com's, failing to rank on Keith Law's list for ESPN. Law, however, elevated Wacha to #24 on a top 25 prospects list released today.
Baseball America ranked Wacha sixth among Cardinals prospects, as he was part of what they considered the best farm system in baseball given the presence of Oscar Taveras, Shelby Miller, Carlos Martinez, Trevor Rosenthal, and Kolten Wong. BA wrote that Wacha had the best changeup in the 2012 draft, adding, "It's easy to project him as a mid-rotation starter, and he could turn into something more if he finds a reliable breaking ball." He may have since found it, as Law wrote today, "Multiple scouts have told me they've seen an above-average breaking ball from Wacha this year, which was the main concern about him coming out of Texas A&M last June."
Will there be room in the Cardinals' rotation for Wacha beyond Thursday? Adam Wainwright, Lance Lynn, and Miller are holding down the first three spots, Garcia is out for the season, Chris Carpenter had a setback, and Jake Westbrook's elbow is improving. Tyler Lyons is in the rotation mix, Martinez could be at some point, and Gast could be as well when he's healthy.
If he stays up all year, Wacha will accumulate 123 days of big league service, making Super Two arbitration eligibility possible after the 2015 season. It's unknown whether that amount of service will put him within the top 22% of the two-to-three class at that point. Super Two players go to arbitration four times instead of the usual three, thus earning extra money.
Who Will Be Drafted First Overall?
Carlos Correa of the Astros, Gerrit Cole of the Pirates, Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg of the Nationals, and Tim Beckham of the Rays have the honor of being the last five players drafted first overall. Outfielder Byron Buxton was drafted after Correa last year by the Twins, yet was regarded as the draft's best player by both Baseball America and ESPN's Keith Law. BA and Law both had Correa second. 2012 marked the first draft with MLB's firm slot values, and the Astros were allotted $7.2MM to sign their first overall pick and $11.2MM in total.
In what Baseball America's Jim Callis described as "a perfect storm for Houston," Correa was "a legitimate top-of-the-draft talent" who nonetheless would have been expected to last until the sixth or seventh pick, which had slot values of $3MM and $3.25MM, respectively. Since the slot values are not firm for each pick but rather part of a team's pool for their first ten picks, the Astros were able to sign Correa for $2.4MM under slot (still worthwhile for him), and use the savings to draft and sign Lance McCullers, Jr. and Rio Ruiz to over-slot deals.
This year, Callis believes the top tier of the draft is limited to college pitchers Jonathan Gray and Mark Appel, and college third baseman Kris Bryant. In BA's mock draft Friday, Callis mentioned the Astros have narrowed their field to those three plus college third baseman Colin Moran and presumably high school outfielder Clint Frazier. BA and Law both see Gray and Appel as the draft's top two talents. The Astros probably wouldn't admit it if they take one of the position players instead, but if that happens, they will seemingly be employing last year's strategy again with their bonus pool money. That leads us to today's poll question:
Who will the Astros draft first overall next week?
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Jonathan Gray 50% (3,762)
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Mark Appel 32% (2,413)
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Kris Bryant 11% (811)
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Colin Moran 4% (331)
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Clint Frazier 3% (246)
Total votes: 7,563
Second Biggest Contract Of The 2013-14 Offseason
Getting the second-biggest free agent contract of the offseason isn't a bad thing – just ask Josh Hamilton, Prince Fielder, and Jayson Werth. But while those players all signed for more than $100MM, it's not clear yet if anyone in the 2013-14 free agent class will receive a nine-figure contract aside from Robinson Cano, who could reach $200MM. That leads us to today's poll question…
Which free agent will receive the biggest contract?
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Shin-Soo Choo 34% (4,392)
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Jacoby Ellsbury 29% (3,732)
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Brian McCann 8% (1,036)
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Tim Lincecum 8% (1,016)
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Nelson Cruz 7% (881)
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Hunter Pence 5% (668)
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Matt Garza 5% (590)
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Chase Utley 3% (382)
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Mark Reynolds 1% (173)
Total votes: 12,870
Cubs Claim Alex Burnett
The Cubs claimed righty reliever Alex Burnett off waivers from the Orioles, tweets MLB.com's Carrie Muskat. Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com first reported Burnett had been claimed. Burnett had been designated for assignment Thursday to open a roster spot for highly regarded young pitcher Kevin Gausman. For the Cubs, Burnett will replace Kyuji Fujikawa, who will be placed on the DL today with an elbow injury.
Burnett was claimed off waivers by the Blue Jays from the Twins on March 29th and quickly designated for assignment, at which point the Orioles claimed him. The 25-year-old made two relief appearances for Baltimore, surrendering three runs in his most recent outing. For his career, he has a 4.73 ERA, 5.7 K/9, 3.8 BB/9, and 0.74 HR/9 in 171 1/3 innings in parts of four seasons.
Mariners Designate Francisco Martinez
The Mariners designated outfielder Francisco Martinez for assignment, according to a team press release. The move opens a 40-man roster spot for infield prospect Nick Franklin. In addition to selecting Franklin's contract, the Mariners also optioned Dustin Ackley and Lucas Luetge and recalled Hector Noesi.
Martinez, 22, was hitting .206/.242/.254 in 136 Double-A plate appearances. Two years ago, Martinez, Charlie Furbush, Casper Wells, and Chance Ruffin were traded by the Tigers to the Mariners for pitchers Doug Fister and David Pauley. In 293 2/3 innings since the trade, Fister has a 3.10 ERA, 7.5 K/9, 1.6 BB/9, and 0.64 HR/9 for the Tigers, and he remains under their control through 2015. Fister's ERA since the trade is 13th in all of baseball among those with 250 innings. Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski acquired four-plus years of something close to an ace, while Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik is left with reliever Furbush and converted starter Ruffin.
Minor Moves: Maya, Hensley
Today's minor moves…
- The Nationals announced Yunesky Maya cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A. The 31-year-old had been designated for assignment on Friday to open a roster spot for Jeff Kobernus. Maya had signed out of Cuba for $8MM in 2010, and has totaled 59 big league innings with a 5.80 ERA.
- The Brewers signed reliever Clay Hensley to take Donovan Hand's place at Triple-A, tweets MLB.com's Adam McCalvy. Hand joined the big league club yesterday. Hensley had been released from the Reds' Triple-A affiliate a week ago, after posting a 4.00 ERA, 10.0 K/9, 4.5 BB/9, and 1.00 HR/9 in 18 innings. Hensley is best known for allowing home run #755 to Barry Bonds in 2007, which tied Hank Aaron's record. Bonds would go on to hit seven additional home runs, the final one coming off Ubaldo Jimenez. Bonds was indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice related to the government's BALCO investigation that offseason, and his legal issues and reported steroid use led to what his agent called a "conspiracy" among teams not to sign him.
- Six players currently reside in DFA limbo: Francisco Martinez of the Mariners, Michael Bowden of the Cubs, Robert Andino of the Mariners, Billy Buckner of the Angels, and Francisco Rondon and Ben Francisco of the Yankees.