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Minor MLB Transactions: 6/16/16

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Some minor moves from around the game…

  • Righty Brandon Gomes has been released by the Cubs, as Baseball America’s Matt Eddy recently reported. The 31-year-old had thrown 167 relief innings over the last five years with the Rays, working to a 4.20 ERA with 7.8 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9. He had struggled with command this year at Triple-A in the Chicago organization, however. In his 22 2/3 frames, Gomes allowed ten earned runs on 14 hits and 14 walks while striking out twenty.
  • The Orioles have re-signed lefty Andy Oliver, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports on Twitter. Oliver, 28, had recently opted out of his minor league pact with Baltimore, but evidently did not find a better opportunity elsewhere. He owns a nice 2.08 ERA over 34 2/3 Triple-A frames on the year, with 8.8 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9.
  • Veteran catcher Gerald Laird has signed a contract with the Mexican League’s Tijuana Toros, MLBTR has learned. The 36-year-old Laird signed the with D-backs prior to the 2015 season but appeared in just one game before a back injury sidelined him into late August, at which point he was designated for assignment and released. Laird enjoyed a productive season with the Braves back in 2013, when he batted .281/.367/.372 in 141 plate appearances. In parts of 13 Major League seasons, Laird is a career .243/.305/.353 hitter. He’s spent time with the Rangers, Tigers and Cardinals in addition to Arizona and Atlanta.
  • The Angels announced that lefty David Huff has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Salt Lake. The 31-year-old made a pair of spot starts for the Halos this season but struggled in each and ultimately yielded seven earned runs on 13 hits and two walks in 5 1/3 innings. He’ll have the right to reject the outright assignment in favor of free agency, though he could very well accept due to the fact that the injury-riddled state of the Angels’ pitching staff could afford him another crack at the Majors later this summer.
  • Former Major League right-hander Robert Coello has been waived by the Nexen Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization, as Jeeho Yoo of the Yonhap News Agency writes. In his place, the Heroes will sign right-hander Scott McGregor, who had been pitching for the Somerset Patriots of the independent Atlantic League (Mike Ashmore of MyCentralJersey.com reported the McGregor news earlier this week). The 31-year-old Coello hasn’t appeared in the Majors since 2013, when he posted a 3.71 ERA in 17 innings for the Angels. He had a 3.77 ERA in 62 innings out of the Heroes’ rotation this season, but Yoo notes that control problems (42 walks in those 62 innings) led him to be waived. McGregor, a longtime Cardinals farmhand, has a career 4.78 ERA at the Triple-A level and was throwing well for Somerset this season, having posted a 3.36 ERA with a 31-to-6 K/BB ratio in 59 innings.

Tigers Picked Justin Upton Over Davis, Cespedes

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  • There was talk of the Tigers pursuing Chris Davis over the winter, and Heyman says that was indeed the case. The club was considering an offer in the $180MM range for the slugger, per the report. Owner Mike Ilitch also pushed for Yoenis Cespedes over Justin Upton, but the club elected to grab the younger player. That choice is certainly up for debate after their respective starts.

Angels Acquire Jose Valdez, Designate Chris Jones

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The Angels announced that they have acquired right-hander Jose Valdez from the Tigers in exchange for cash considerations. In order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Valdez, the Halos have designated left-hander Chris Jones for assignment.

Valdez, 26, has just nine innings of Major League experience, all coming last season with Detroit. However, he’s posted fairly intriguing numbers at the minor league level, including a 3.34 ERA in 67 1/3 innings at Triple-A and a 3.32 ERA in 276 2/3 innings overall. Control has been a persistent problem for Valdez, who has averaged 5.4 walks per nine innings throughout his minor league career. He’s also averaged more than a strikeout per inning, though his ability to miss bats has not yet manifested at the Triple-A level, where he has a 51-to-43 K/BB ratio in those 67 1/3 frames.

Entering the season, Baseball America rated Valdez as Detroit’s No. 23 prospect, praising his “high-octane stuff” and calling both his fastball and slider plus pitches. However, BA also noted that Valdez’s struggles with control often leave him pitching behind in the count.

As for Jones, the 27-year-old was in his first season with the Angels organization, having been acquired in a minor trade late in Spring Training. Previously, Jones spent parts of nine seasons in the minor league systems of the Indians, Braves and Orioles. The former 15th-round pick entered the season with a 3.12 ERA in 340 1/3 innings of Triple-A work, but he’s been rocked for a 7.33 ERA in 50 1/3 innings this season. All told, he has a 3.66 ERA in 390 2/3 innings at Triple-A and a 3.62 ERA in 754 1/3 total minor league frames.

Tigers Rumblings: Shields, Ausmus

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  • Before the Padres traded righty James Shields to the White Sox on Saturday, the Red Sox, Orioles, Tigers and Dodgers expressed interest in acquiring the 34-year-old. Shields’ final start with the Padres – in which he allowed 10 earned runs, eight hits and four walks in 2 2/3 innings on Tuesday – served as a deterrent to some clubs, though, reports Cafardo.
  • The 27-28 Tigers aren’t considering replacing third-year manager Brad Ausmus as of now, relays Cafardo. However, given that he’s in a contract year, Ausmus could be managing for his job.

    [SOURCE LINK]

Padres Contacted Tigers About James Shields

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  • In an effort to get a quality return for Shields, the Padres reached out to “every team in contention,” including the Tigers, reports Tony Paul of The Detroit News. Tigers executives listened to the Padres’ pitch, but they ultimately balked at their asking price, enabling division-rival Chicago to land the 34-year-old. Shields would have upgraded a Tigers rotation that has gotten particularly disastrous performances from Mike Pelfrey and the now-demoted Anibal Sanchez this year, though it’s unclear what they would have had to give up for him.

Pitcher Notes: Pomeranz, M’s, Giants, Royals, Tigers

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The Padres traded James Shields on Saturday, but they aren’t as willing to move their best starter, southpaw Drew Pomeranz, reports Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter link). The club would need to be “overwhelmed” to deal the 27-year-old, according to Lin. Pomeranz currently ranks eighth among qualified starters in both ERA (2.22) and strikeouts per nine innings (10.66), and he’s playing this season on a meager $1.35MM salary. Thus, it would likely to take a significant haul to land him and his two-plus remaining years of team control.

More on a few other pitchers:

  • The Mariners promoted their top pitching prospect, Double-A reliever Edwin Diaz, and optioned fellow reliever Cody Martin to Triple-A Tacoma to make room, per a team announcement. Diaz, 22, has posted a sterling 2.21 ERA, 11.95 K/9 and 1.55 BB/9 in 40 2/3 innings this year. Most of those numbers came as a starter, but the Mariners decided to move Diaz to the bullpen early last month because they feel his ceiling as a reliever is higher. Diaz has a high-90s fastball out of the ’pen and has dominated in relief this season, writes The Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish. He’ll have a chance to earn a spot with the Mariners in the wake of veteran Joel Peralta’s designation for assignment earlier this week.
  • Before lefty Brian Duensing agreed to a minor league deal with the Orioles last month, the Giants and Royals also pushed for his services, he told Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (Twitter link). Duensing became a free agent when he opted out of his contract with Kansas City in mid-May; as evidenced by Kansas City’s desire to re-sign Duensing, the defending World Series champions were obviously sorry to see him go.
  • The Tigers’ Shane Greene made three of his four early season appearances as a starter before landing on the disabled list April 24 with a blister on his throwing hand. The right-hander is healthy again, but he will now come out of the bullpen, manager Brad Ausmus said (via Brendan Savage of MLive.com). “He’ll work out of the pen, probably sixth-seventh innings, right around there,” Ausmus stated. “Maybe eighth depending on who needs rest, who’s coming up, etc. He can work a couple innings. Availability will come into play but he can definitely work a couple of innings.” Prior to his injury, Greene put up a 6.28 ERA, 6.91 K/9 and 5.65 BB/9 in 14 1/3 innings. He worked almost exclusively as a starter last season (16 of 18 appearances), though his run prevention was even worse (6.88 ERA).

Tigers Notes: Shields, Ausmus

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  • The Red Sox, too, have considered Shields but are waiting to see how Eduardo Rodriguez performs upon returning from the disabled list (so far, so good). The White Sox, meanwhile, would want the Padres to pay down a significant portion of the $57MM that remains on Shields’ contract (again, barring an opt out). Heyman writes that a source indicated that shortstop prospect Tim Anderson wouldn’t be involved in talks, though that doesn’t strike me as a surprising revelation; even with half of his contract paid down, that would seem like an overpay on Chicago’s behalf. On a somewhat similar vein, Heyman adds that the Padres approached the Tigers about Shields, but Detroit had no interest in parting with any of Michael Fulmer, Daniel Norris or Matt Boyd in a potential deal.
  • The jobs of Tigers manager Brad Ausmus and Twins manager Paul Molitor are safe, Heyman writes, though he adds that Detroit GM Al Avila has privately told Ausmus to stop discussing his job security (or lack thereof) with the media, as the situation doesn’t need any extra fuel.

Tigers Move Anibal Sanchez To Bullpen

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The Tigers have removed Anibal Sanchez from the rotation and replaced him with left-hander Matt Boyd, as Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press writes. Sanchez took the move as well as could be expected, manager Brad Ausmus told the media, and Fenech writes that Sanchez spoke with conviction about working to correct his flaws and reclaim his job. Sanchez, who is earning $16MM in 2016, the fourth season of a five-year, $80MM contract, has surrendered a 6.67 ERA through his first 56 2/3 innings of the year. He led the American League with 29 homers allowed in 157 innings last season and has allowed an even more alarming 14 long balls in this year’s 56 2/3 frames while also displaying his worst control since 2009 (4.6 BB/9). Sanchez is owed $16MM once again in 2017, and the Tigers hold a $16MM club option for the 2018 season that comes with a hefty $5MM buyout. With offseason signee Mike Pelfrey struggling so greatly as well, the Tigers are definite candidates to seek rotation upgrades this summer, though the emergence of Michael Fulmer and a recent string of solid outings for Daniel Norris at Triple-A may lessen the urgency.

Tigers Select Contract Of Bobby Parnell, Designate Jose Valdez

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The Tigers announced today that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Bobby Parnell from Triple-A Toledo and designated fellow righty Jose Valdez for assignment in order to clear a spot  on the 40-man roster (links to Twitter). Australian right-hander Warwick Saupold was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a groin injury, necessitating the addition of Parnell to the big league bullpen.

Parnell, 31, signed a minor league deal with Detroit and headed to Toledo after he didn’t make the team out of Spring Training. The former Mets closer has pitched to a 3.98 ERA in 20 1/3 innings with the Mud Hens this season, though he’s also posted a fairly uninspiring 16-to-11 K/BB ratio in that time. Parnell is looking to reestablish himself as a quality Major League reliever after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2014 and missing much of the 2015 season while recovering from that injury and, later in the year, some tendinitis in his right shoulder. All in all, he posted a 6.38 ERA in 24 innings last season.

Injury problems for Parnell date back further than just the 2014-15 campaigns, however. In 2013, Parnell was in the midst of a dominant season as the Mets’ closer before a herniated disk in his neck left him unable to pitch after July 30. On a more positive note, he did work to a 2.16 ERA in 50 innings that season, and he was generally impressive from 2010-13, generating a 2.79 ERA with 8.5 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9 in 213 innings of work. Parnell’s average fastball velocity is understandably down from its 97.2 mph peak (2011), but he still averaged 93 mph on his heater last season.

As for Valdez, the 26-year-old made his big league debut in 2015 when he allowed four runs on 10 hits and four walks with four strikeouts in nine innings out of the Detroit bullpen. He’s battled his control between Double-A and Triple-A this season, though, walking 12 batters, hitting one and uncorking three wild pitches in 20 innings of relief en route to a combined 4.50 ERA. It’s worth noting that Baseball America rated him 23rd among Detroit farmhands entering the season, although BA questioned his control and noted that he’s frequently behind in the count due to an inability to consistently command either his fastball or his slider.

Tigers Release Nate Schierholtz

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  • Earlier this week, the Tigers released outfielder Nate Schierholtz.  The veteran signed a minor league contract with Detroit last winter.  Schierholtz has a .253/.302/.405 slash line over 2275 career PA with the Giants, Phillies, Cubs and Nationals from 2007-14.  He spent the 2015 season playing in Japan, an experience Schierholtz discussed with MLBTR’s Zach Links during Spring Training.
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