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Minor MLB Transactions: 12/15/16

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Here are some minor moves to start the day:

  • The Tigers added southpaw Anthony Vasquez on a minors pact, according to Jon Morosi of MLB Network (via Twitter). Vasquez, 30, made seven rough starts for the Mariners back in 2011 but hasn’t returned to the majors since. He was rather effective in the upper minors last year in the Phillies organization, throwing 172 1/3 innings of 3.08 ERA ball with 6.2 K/9 against 2.2 BB/9.
  • Righty Matt Carasiti and outfielder Stephen Cardullo will each return to the Rockies on minor-league deals that include Spring Training invites, MLB.com’s Thomas Harding tweets. Both were non-tendered recently (though neither was eligible for arbitration) to clear 40-man spots. The 25-year-old Carasiti had an outstanding year at Triple-A, allowing just ten earned runs on thirty hits over 46 innings and carrying a sparkling 48:9 K/BB ratio, but was knocked around in his 19-game MLB debut. As for the 29-year-old Cardullo, who the Rox plucked from indy ball last year, a big showing at Triple-A (.308/.367/.522) earned him a surprise call to the majors. But he struggled in his 59 trips to the plate, logging a .214/.254/.411 slash with two homers.
  • The Athletics have sold the contract of righty Ryan Brasier to the NPB’s Hiroshima Carp, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets. Now 29, Brasier reached the majors briefly back in 2013 — and also showed nice peripherals at Triple-A that year — but ended up going under the knife for a Tommy John procedure. Last year, he worked at the highest level of the Oakland farm, throwing 60 2/3 innings of 3.56 ERA ball and posting an impressive 10.4 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9.

K-Rod Unlikely To Be Traded; Laird Hired As Minor League Manager

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Tigers closer Francisco Rodriguez doesn’t appear to be on the trade block this winter, writes Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press. While GM Al Avila didn’t definitively state that K-Rod won’t be moved this winter, he certainly implied to Fenech that the team isn’t seeking out trade partners for Rodriguez, whose $6MM club option was picked up following the season. However, Avila did state that if things go south for the Tigers in 2017, K-Rod would be a logical trade chip. “If things were right, if the timing was right, would he be a guy we’d look to trade?” the GM asked rhetorically. “Yeah. A veteran guy in the last year of his contract, there might be a good situation down the road.” Avila has publicly declared a desire to shed some payroll and work toward a younger roster, but for the time being it seems likelier that K-Rod opens the year in Detroit than elsewhere.

  • The Tigers announced today that former Major League catcher Gerald Laird has been hired as the manager of the team’s Class-A affiliate in Connecticut. Laird, 37, hasn’t logged significant Major League action since the 2014 season, which he spent with the Braves. The former Tiger spent parts of 13 seasons in the Majors beginning in 2003, though, batting a collective .243/.305/.353 with the Rangers, Tigers, Cardinals, Braves and Diamondbacks. He won a World Series ring with St. Louis in 2011 and now looks to be embarking on the next level of his career in baseball. There’s been no formal word that he’s retired, though it seems clear that for the time being, he’s focused on other areas.

Tigers Have Discussed Justin Wilson With Astros

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  • Morosi also tweets that the Astros have had some talks with the Tigers regarding left-handed reliever Justin Wilson. Houston joins the Cubs as the most recent team to be linked to Wilson, who pitched to a 4.14 ERA in his first season with Detroit but also recorded career-bests in K/9, BB/9 and ground-ball rate. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz pegs him for a reasonable $2.7MM next year, and Wilson will be controllable through the 2018 season via the arbitration process.

Tigers, Cubs Have Discussed Justin Wilson

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  • The Tigers and Cubs have been in contact about left-handed reliever Justin Wilson, tweets Morosi, although he notes that it’s unclear whether there’s any momentum. Detroit acquired Wilson last winter in a trade that sent Chad Green and Luis Cessa to the Yankees, and while Wilson didn’t have the year the Tigers likely envisioned (4.14 ERA in 58 2/3 innings), there were plenty of positive indicators in the 29-year-old’s results. Wilson turned in a career-best 10.0 K/9 and career-low 2.6 BB/9 in his 58 2/3 frames out of the Detroit ’pen, and he also notched a career-high 54.9 percent ground-ball rate.

Latest On Justin Wilson, Shane Greene

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  • The Tigers are listening to offers for relievers Justin Wilson and Shane Greene, but the former is the likelier of the two to move because he’s pricier and would bring back more in a trade, according to Evan Woodbery of MLive.com. Shipping out the left-handed Wilson would free up an estimated $2.7MM for Detroit, which acquired him from the Yankees for righties Chad Green and Luis Cessa last winter. In his first year with the Tigers, Wilson recorded a 4.14 ERA, 9.97 K/9, 2.61 BB/9 and 54.6 ground-ball rate in 58 2/3 innings. The right-handed Greene, also an ex-Yankee, will make close to the league minimum in 2017. He ended last season with a 5.82 ERA, 8.8 K/9, 3.28 BB/9 and 47.6 grounder rate across 60 1/3 frames.

Tigers Sign Omar Infante, 13 Others To Minors Deals

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The Tigers have announced a barrage of minor-league signings, most notably including a reunion with former Detroit infielder Omar Infante. Other players receiving Spring Training invites include pitchers Ruben Alaniz, William Cuevas, Logan Kensing, Dustin Molleken, as well as catcher Miguel Gonzalez.

Infante, who’ll soon turn 35, enjoyed two prior runs in the Motor City. His most recent stint came in 2012-13, with a strong final season leading him to land a four-year deal with the Royals. Things didn’t go well in Kansas City, where Infante scuffled to a .238/.269/.328 batting line over 1,179 plate appearances. He was cut loose in the middle of last year, leaving the Royals still on the hook for his $8MM salary this season.

The team also reached agreement on minors deals without a non-roster invite with a variety of other players: pitchers Johan Belisario, Endrys Briceno, Jeff Ferrell, Santiago Garrido, and Arcenio Leon along with infielders Argenis Diaz and Gustavo Nunez.

Tigers, A.J. Achter Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Tigers and right-hander A.J. Achter have agreed to a minor league contract with an invite to Major League Spring Training, reports SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (on Twitter).

Achter, a longtime Twins farmhand, will return to the American League Central after spending the 2016 season with the Angels organization. The 28-year-old made his big league debut with the Twins back in 2014 and has appeared in parts of each season since, but he received his lengthiest and most successful Major League stint with the Halos last year. In 37 2/3 innings out of the Angels’ bullpen, Achter worked to a 3.11 earned run average. Achter displayed solid control (2.9 BB/9) and posted a roughly league-average ground-ball rate, but he also showed an inability to miss bats at the Major League level. In his 37 2/3 frames, he picked up just 14 strikeouts (3.3 K/9). Achter entered the 2016 campaign with a career 9.1 K/9 rate in the minors and with 19 strikeouts in 24 1/3 Major  League innings, but the extreme levels of contact against him led ERA estimators such as FIP, xFIP and SIERA to each peg him well north of 5.00.

With a career 2.79 ERA and solid K/BB numbers in Triple-A, Achter is at the very least a solid depth piece to have on hand. He’ll have a homecoming of sorts in joining the Tigers — Achter is from Ohio and went to college at Michigan State — and hope to force his way to the bullpen of a Tigers team that is attempting to trim its payroll this winter.

AL Notes: Chapman, Yankees, Encarnacion, Astros, Tigers

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The Yankees believe that the Marlins’ unexpected pursuit of Aroldis Chapman — Miami reportedly offered Chapman a five-year deal worth $87MM — forced New York to spend about $10-15MM more than they would otherwise have had to offer in order to finalize the deal, Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes. Sherman also adds that the Yankees are still hoping to add a starting pitcher and multiple relievers (one of the left-handed variety), though the Cashman said earlier this week that he doesn’t anticipate adding a free-agent starter due to the high asking prices around the league (via Sherman’s colleague George A. King III).

More from around the American League…

  • In an interesting read for Yankees fans (or for any fan, really), Mike Axisa of River Ave. Blues examines the decision to re-sign Chapman from a variety of angles. Axisa questions whether the Yankees, who currently look to be a ways behind Boston in terms of expected 2017 performance, did the right thing in “paying a lot of money now to buy Chapman for the future” and notes the possibility that Chapman will be opting out of his deal just as the bulk of New York’s vaunted young talent is solidifying itself at the big league level. The move also flies somewhat in the face of the desire to get below the luxury tax threshold, Axisa observes, and there are of course ongoing public relations considerations due to last October’s domestic violence allegations.
  • Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet tweets that many in the industry still consider the Rangers to be the most logical landing spot for free agent Edwin Encarnacion. Texas reportedly feels that it doesn’t have the financial means to fit Encarnacion into the budget, but GM Jon Daniels and his staff have certainly made some creative value plays for free agents whose markets have crumbled a bit in the past.
  • The Astros prefer not to move upper-level prospects in their search for rotation upgrades, GM Jeff Luhnow tells MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart. Houston has been asked about top prospect Francis Martes on numerous occasions, McTaggart writes, though Luhnow downplayed the possibility of dealing the right-hander. “The players we’re staying away from are the players that are probably going to start the year on the big league club and are key parts of the 2017 plan,” said the Houston GM. “Martes is a very valuable player, and very valuable players that are close to the big leagues get asked about a lot. That’s no different with him. It would take something significant for us to move him.” McTaggart also notes that outfield prospect Kyle Tucker is “generally considered untouchable.”
  • The Tigers aren’t pursuing an Andrew McCutchen trade tweets MLB Network’s Jon Morosi. They’ve also yet to get involved with the recently non-tendered Ben Revere, tweets MLB.com’s Jason Beck. Detroit has a clear question mark in center field at the moment, but the team is also well-known to be striving to shed payroll and get younger. With that in mind, a pursuit of McCutchen never would’ve made much sense for GM Al Avila’s club, though Revere could be a low-cost option that would have plenty of surplus value in the event of a rebound from last year’s disastrous season.

Padres Interested In Jose Iglesias, Hanser Alberto

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The Padres have asked a variety of teams about potential shortstop options, MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell tweets. One player who’s on their list is Tigers shortstop Jose Iglesias, who Detroit GM Al Avila said yesterday was drawing interest.

Iglesias, 26, would give the Padres a defense-first option at shortstop, likely leaving the Tigers to entrust the position to Dixon Machado. Iglesias has two years of control remaining, and is projected to make $3.2MM this year through the arbitration process. He batted a modest .255/.306/.336 in 513 plate appearances last year, but, as usual, he produced good value with his glove, with an 11.6 UZR and +3 Defensive Runs Saved.

Cassavell adds that the Padres are still have interest in Hanser Alberto of the Rangers, who has lately been mentioned as a possible trade fit for San Diego for outfielder Travis Jankowski. Like Iglesias, Alberto profiles as a defense-first shortstop. He’s inexperienced, however, and hasn’t hit at all in his brief big-league opportunities, batting .194/.204/.226 in 162 plate appearances in the Majors. He is, however, likely quite familiar to Padres GM A.J. Preller, who was in the Rangers organization when Alberto signed in 2009.

Tigers Notes: Wilson, Iglesias, Martinez

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The Tigers haven’t yet made much noise at the Winter Meetings, but they’ve been involved in discussions throughout the week. Here are some of the latest:

  • Lefty reliever Justin Wilson has been among the Tigers’ most popular players this week. But it appears the Tigers aren’t sitting back and letting potential trade partners come to them. The Tigers asked the Marlins, who are known to be looking for bullpen help (albeit mostly of the closer variety), whether they might have interest in trading for Wilson, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press tweets. The Marlins don’t currently have much lefty relief help beyond Hunter Cervenka.
  • Tigers GM Al Avila says shortstop Jose Iglesias has recently drawn interest, MLB.com’s Jason Beck writes (Twitter links). If the Tigers were to trade Machado, they might turn to Dixon Machado at short — some in the Tigers organization believe Machado could hit enough to start. The 26-year-old Iglesias would make an interesting acquisition for a team hoping to upgrade its up-the-middle defense — he’s made little progress on his hitting, batting just .255/.306/.336 this season, but he retains good value thanks to his defense. He has two years of team control remaining before he’s eligible for free agency.
  • The Giants do not seem likely to trade for J.D. Martinez, the San Francisco Chronicle’s John Shea tweets. They would likely only make a deal for someone in Martinez’s position if they were to also able to trade a player making a similar salary. Martinez will make $11.75MM next season as part of the two-year deal he signed with the Tigers in March.
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