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Indians To Sign Brad Peacock

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The Indians are signing right-hander Brad Peacock to a minor league contract, reports Mandy Bell of MLB.com (Twitter link). The 33-year-old spent the 2013-20 seasons with the Astros.

Peacock was quite often a valuable swing man in Houston. He started 21 of his 34 appearances with the Astros’ 2017 World Series-winning club, pitching to a 3.00 ERA/3.76 SIERA. Despite that quality performance, Peacock found himself squeezed out of a loaded rotation the following season. He was equally effective in a relief role, working to a 3.46 ERA/2.40 SIERA across 65 frames in 2018. Peacock returned to starting in 2019, where he was again productive.

Unfortunately, Peacock’s 2020 season was almost entirely derailed by injury. He only made three relief appearances due to soreness in his throwing shoulder. Ultimately, he required arthroscopic surgery last October and spent the entire offseason recuperating. Peacock returned to health in April, but his market remained quiet until he threw a showcase in front of interested teams earlier this week.

Evidently, Cleveland’s brass was impressed enough with his form to add him to the organization. The Indians have been reeling from a series of injuries to their top trio of starting pitchers. Each of Shane Bieber, Zach Plesac and Aaron Civale are on the injured list at the moment. That’s left the Indians with an unproven, generally underwhelming starting staff. At 41-31, the Indians are nevertheless only two games back of the White Sox in the American League Central. They’re trying to hang in contention while weathering the injuries to their top starters.

Given that outlook at the big league level, it seems Peacock has a good chance to pitch his way back into a big league rotation relatively quickly. (The Cleveland bullpen is in much better shape health-wise and has been the strength of the team all year). Presumably, Peacock will report to Triple-A Columbus and build up into game shape as a potential starting option for Cleveland in the coming weeks.

Orioles Designate Mickey Jannis For Assignment, Select Konner Wade

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The Orioles announced Friday that they’ve selected the contract of righty Konner Wade from Triple-A Norfolk and designated right-hander Mickey Jannis for assignment in a corresponding move. The O’s also optioned righty Dean Kremer to Norfolk and recalled lefty Alexander Wells.

Jannis was just selected to the major league roster earlier this week. The 33-year-old made his MLB debut Wednesday night against the Astros, but it didn’t go well. He worked 3 1/3 innings of mop-up relief but was tagged for seven runs on eight hits (including three homers), issuing four walks while striking out just one. It was a nightmare outing to be sure, but it also came against a Houston lineup that has been far and away the best in baseball this year. Before that tough debut, the knuckleballer earned a big league look by pitching to a 2.92 ERA in 24 2/3 innings with Norfolk. The O’s will have a week to trade him or place him on waivers.

The designation of Jannis frees up Wade to make a late-career MLB debut of his own. A 7th-round pick out of the University of Arizona in 2013, Wade has spent the past seven seasons climbing the minor league ladder. Most of that time was spent in the Rockies and Red Sox systems, but the 29-year-old signed a minor league deal with Baltimore over the winter. He’s spent the entire year in Norfolk, where he’s tossed 31 innings of 3.48 ERA ball, mostly as a multi-inning reliever. Wade has never been one to miss many bats, and that hasn’t changed this year (16.4% strikeout rate). But the righty also has a long history of quality strike-throwing, and that’s continued in 2021 (4.9% walk rate).

Kremer has spent much of the year in the O’s rotation. He’s struggled mightily, though, pitching to a 7.25 ERA with worse than average strikeout and walk numbers (20% and 10.7%, respectively) over 49 2/3 innings. That’s a disappointing follow-up to a decent four-start MLB look in 2020 for Kremer, who’s long been seen as one of the more promising pitchers in the Baltimore system.

Wells is a decently-regarded prospect in his own right. The 24-year-old doesn’t throw hard or miss bats, but he owns some of the best control in the minors. He has a 5.63 ERA across 32 Triple-A frames this season. Wells will be making his major league debut whenever he gets into a game.

Mets Claim Chance Sisco

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The Mets have claimed catcher Chance Sisco off waivers from the Orioles, per team announcements from both clubs. The Orioles had designated him for assignment last week. The Mets moved J.D. Davis to the 60-day injured list to clear a roster spot for Sisco, who has been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse for the time being.

Today’s claim brings to an end Sisco’s tenure with the Orioles, who selected him in the second round of the 2013 draft. The left-handed hitting backstop raked up through Double-A over the next few seasons, eventually earning himself a place on top prospect lists. Baseball America ranked Sisco among the back half of the league’s top 100 minor league talents entering the 2017 and 2018 campaigns, with the expectation that Sisco would cement himself as a bat-first regular behind the dish.

To this point, however, Sisco hasn’t carried that offensive promise over to the highest level. He tallied 598 major league plate appearances with Baltimore over the past five seasons, managing just a cumulative .199/.319/.339 line. He’s popped sixteen home runs and walked at a strong 10.2% clip, but Sisco has become increasingly strikeout prone as he’s climbed to the highest level. He’s gone down on strikes in 32.3% of his MLB plate appearances. Advanced defensive metrics have panned his work behind the plate, which was also a concern for some scouts as he worked his way up the ladder.

While Sisco hasn’t yet proven a valuable big leaguer, there’s little harm for the Mets in placing a claim on an obviously talented player. He’s still just 26 years old and has a decent .264/.352/.421 slash line in 805 career plate appearances at Triple-A. As mentioned, he can also be optioned for the remainder of the year, so the Mets can keep him in Syracuse as high minors’ depth if he remains on the 40-man roster all season.

Davis’ transfer to the 60-day IL is largely a procedural move. It rules him out for 60 days from the time of his initial IL placement (May 3). He’ll be eligible to return on July 1. General manager Zack Scott told reporters (including Tim Britton of the Athletic) earlier this week that Davis could embark on a minor league rehab assignment within a week or two.

Diamondbacks Claim Brett de Geus

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The D-backs announced Friday that they’ve claimed right-hander Brett de Geus off waivers from the Rangers, who’d designated him for assignment earlier in the week. The 23-year-old de Geus was the No. 2 pick in this past December’s Rule 5 Draft, going from the Dodgers to the Rangers.

It’s been a rough debut for de Geus, who has totaled 26 2/3 innings for Texas but been tagged for 25 runs in that time. He’s yielded 31 hits, including three home runs, issued 13 walks and plunked an alarming six batters. De Geus has punched out 26 hitters in those 26 2/3 frames, but a straight K/9 is a little misleading for a pitcher who has walked and hit so many batters; his 20.5 percent overall strikeout rate is well shy of the 24.6 percent league-average for a reliever.

While his MLB debut hasn’t gone particularly well, that’s not much of a surprise considering the fact that de Geus is a 23-year-old making the jump from A-ball to the Majors on the heels of a canceled 2020 minor league season. In May 2020, FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen tabbed de Geus as the No. 35 prospect in a deep Dodgers system, noting that a velocity spike upon moving to the bullpen had create some optimism about his chances of emerging as a viable MLB reliever.

Back in 2019, de Geus split the season between Class-A and Class-A Advanced, posting video-game numbers along the way. He combined for 61 2/3 innings of 1.75 ERA ball with a 29.8 percent strikeout rate, a 5.4 percent walk rate and a 56.1 percent ground-ball rate. He’s maintained those impressive ground-ball tendencies in the Majors, inducing grounders at a 55.6 percent clip with Texas.

Because de Geus was a Rule 5 pick, he’ll have to stick on the Diamondbacks’ roster for the remainder of the season or else again be placed on waivers. Were he to theoretically clear waivers if the D-backs exposed him to them a second time, he’d then need to be offered back to the Dodgers organization. Given the catastrophic nature of the Diamondbacks’ 2021 season, however, it shouldn’t be too hard for them to hang onto de Geus through the remainder of the year if they indeed want to permanently secure his rights. Arizona is currently 21-56, making them the only team in Major League Baseball with a sub-.300 winning percentage.

Pirates Trade Troy Stokes Jr., Jandel Gustave To Brewers

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The Pirates and Brewers have agreed to a trade sending outfielder Troy Stokes Jr. and righty Jandel Gustave from Pittsburgh to Milwaukee in exchange for 17-year-old catcher Samuel Escudero, according to a team announcement out of Milwaukee. Stokes and Gustave have both been assigned to Triple-A Nashville for the time being.

It’s a bit of an oddball trade between two division rivals, as neither Stokes nor Gustave are on the 40-man roster for the rebuilding Pirates. Stokes, 25, was originally a fourth-round pick by the Brewers back in 2014 but made his way to the Pirates via a pair of waiver claims over the past couple seasons. He made his MLB debut earlier this season with Pittsburgh, appearing in eight games and 2-for-18, but he’s since been outrighted off the 40-man roster.

Stokes hasn’t been hitting particularly well in Triple-A Indianapolis since being removed from the 40-man roster. He’s logged 29 games and 84 plate appearances with a tepid .169/.298/.310 slash, dropping his career slash at the Triple-A level to .221/.333/.372 in 465 plate appearances. He’ll give some upper-level outfield depth to a team that traded Billy McKinney to the Mets last month and currently has Lorenzo Cain on the injured list. Milwaukee also recently designated outfielder Derek Fisher for assignment, and if he ends up elsewhere that’d only further deplete their outfield depth.

For the Brewers, the acquisition of Gustave could be the greater focus. Milwaukee’s acquisition of Willy Adames from the Rays bolstered its defense and lineup, but the Brewers had to part with righties J.P. Feyereisen and Drew Rasmussen in order to get that deal done. Righty Trevor Richards came to Milwaukee in that deal and has thrown well, but they’re down a reliever on their depth chart following that swap.

President of baseball ops David Stearns suggested in an interview with The Athletic’s Will Sammon this week that looking for some complementary bullpen arms might be on the to-do list as the deadline approaches. “Where we’ve struggled is finding those complementary players who can round out a pitching staff and provide consistent performance,” Stearns told Sammon.

Acquiring Gustave certainly seems to mesh with Stearns’ comments. The former Astros and Giants righty was once a prospect of some note, going with the top pick in the 2014 Rule 5 Draft. Tommy John surgery limited him to five innings with the ’Stros in 2017 and wiped out his entire 2018 campaign. He made it back to the big leagues with the Giants in 2019 and tossed 24 1/3 innings of 2.96 ERA ball, albeit with a lowly 14.1 percent strikeout rate and a 9.1 percent walk rate.

Gustave didn’t pitch in the Majors last year. Though he started the season on the Giants’ 40-man roster, he wasn’t added to their initial 60-man player pool and was designated for assignment in early August. He inked a minor league deal with Pittsburgh over the winter and has thrown well in Indianapolis, holding opponents to six runs on a dozen hits and five walks with 18 punchouts through 15 frames (3.60 ERA).

While Gustave hasn’t missed too many bats in the big leagues, he’s whiffed 29 percent of his opponents in Triple-A this season and 23 percent in parts of three career campaigns there. The right-hander carries a 3.43 ERA in 44 2/3 innings at the MLB level and a 4.39 mark in 98 1/3 innings of Triple-A work. At the very least, he gives the Brewers another depth arm with some experience should they need to tap further into the minor league reservoir.

As for the Pirates’ return, there’s not much publicly available data on the young backstop. The Brewers signed him as an amateur out of Venezuela back in January, and the Pirates have assigned him to their affiliate in the Dominican Summer League. Given that the Bucs are trading away a player who cleared waivers a month ago and a second non-roster player who was acquired on a minor league contract, getting even a far-off lottery ticket who’s just setting out on his pro career is a nice pickup.

Zack Godley Elects Free Agency

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Veteran right-hander Zack Godley went unclaimed on waivers and has elected free agency in lieu of an outright assignment, as first indicated on the Triple-A transaction log at MLB.com. The Brewers designated Godley for assignment earlier in the week.

Godley, 31, inked a minor league deal with Milwaukee earlier in the year and was twice selected to the big league roster. The right-hander sustained a finger injury in his first outing and landed on the injured list for just under two weeks — after which the Brewers designated him for assignment. Godley accepted an outright to Triple-A after that first DFA, but he’ll now head out in search of a new opportunity after once again being selected to the MLB roster only to be designated for assignment following a single appearance.

Godley certainly hasn’t been effective in his 3 1/3 innings with the Brewers this season, surrendering five earned runs, but he’s been sharp with their Triple-A affiliate. He’s thrown 30 innings down in Nashville and logged a 2.40 ERA with a strong 28.6 percent strikeout rate, a 10.1 percent walk rate and a 44.4 percent ground-ball rate.

At one point, Godley was a solid member of the D-backs’ staff, pitching to a 4.41 ERA with a 23.3 percent strikeout rate in 444 2/3 innings from 2015-18. That stretch featured the right-hander’s best season: a 2017 campaign in which he tossed 155 innings of 3.37 ERA ball. However, Godley took a step back in 2018 (4.74 ERA in 178 1/3 frames) and struggled even more in 2019 (6.39 ERA) before being cut loose by Arizona. He finished out the 2019 campaign with a decent stretch in the Blue Jays’ bullpen, but his hopes for a rebound in 2020 were largely dashed by a forearm strain that limited him to 28 2/3 innings with the Red Sox.

All told, Godley has a 4.92 ERA in 568 1/3 innings at the big league level and a 2.78 mark in 90 2/3 innings of Triple-A ball. At his best, he’s looked like a capable big league starter, but it’s been a few years since he’s displayed that form. He didn’t get much of a chance to do so in Milwaukee, but his track record and the widespread need for pitching depth around the league ought to earn him another look elsewhere.

Nate Jones Elects Free Agency

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Right-hander Nate Jones, who was designated for assignment by the Dodgers last week, has elected free agency rather than accept an outright assignment, as first reflected on the Triple-A transactions log at MLB.com.

Jones, 35, has spent time with the Braves and the Dodgers this season but has yet to recapture the form that made him one of the game’s better setup men at his peak. He pitched to a 3.48 ERA in Atlanta but also yielded an untenable 10 walks in 10 1/3 innings before being cut loose. In L.A., Jones cleaned up the walks but surrendered four homers in 8 2/3 frames. Overall, he’s pitched to a 5.69  ERA with 14 punchouts against 12 walks in 19 innings this year.

From 2012-19, Jones logged a tidy 3.12 ERA with a hearty 26.5 percent strikeout rate against a 9.2 percent walk rate. That 26.5 percent strikeout clip is above average even by today’s standards, but Jones struck out nearly 30 percent of his opponents from 2013-17 at a time when the overall league strikeout rate was much lower than it is at present. Health issues plagued him throughout his time with the White Sox, but when he was healthy enough to take the mound, Jones was generally a high-end reliever.

Jones’ sinker still has plenty of life, averaging 95.6 mph according to Statcast, and his slider generated a 39.6 percent whiff rate. That’s down a bit from his peak, when the sinker sat around 98 mph and the slider induced whiffs at better than a 50 percent clip, but Jones is still throwing hard and still capable of generating swings and misses at a healthy clip. Between that and his generally strong track record, there should be interest from other clubs on a minor league pact.

Mets Purchase Vance Worley’s Contract

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The Mets have purchased the contract of right-hander Vance Worley from the independent Kane County Cougars, as announced yesterday via the Cougars’ official Twitter feed.  Worley will report to the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse.

This is Worley’s second stint in the Mets organization, as he signed a minor league deal with the team back in April 2018.  He didn’t see any big league action, however, and ended up being released just two months later after elbow problems limited him to just 16 2/3 innings of work with the Mets’ Triple-A team.  That represented Worley’s last bit of on-field action until his work with Kane County this year, as a deal with the independent Somerset Patriots in 2020 fell through after the pandemic canceled the Patriots’ season.

Worley posted a 4.09 ERA/4.23 SIERA over 667 career innings with five different teams from 2010-17.  The 33-year-old is probably best remembered for his career-opening three-year stint with the Phillies, which included a third-place finish in NL Rookie Of The Year voting in 2011.  Never a hard thrower or a big strikeout pitcher, Worley nevertheless lasted eight years in the majors by keeping batters off-balance with a four-pitch (and occasionally even a five-pitch) arsenal.

With the Mets currently shorthanded by a number of pitching injuries, there’s little harm for the club in picking up a veteran arm for some extra depth.  It remains to be seen if Worley will actually get a call back to the Show, as it is possible Marcus Stroman’s recent hip issue won’t be serious enough to merit an IL trip or even a missed start.

Braves Select Jesse Chavez, Tanner Roark

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5:58PM: The Braves officially announced the roster moves.

5:50PM: Tanner Roark’s contract has also been selected, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reports (Twitter link).  Roark inked a minor league deal with Atlanta shortly after the Blue Jays released him in early May.  The veteran righty is looking for a fresh start after posting a 6.75 ERA over 54 2/3 innings for Toronto since the start of the 2020 season.  In corresponding moves, Atlanta optioned right-handers Kyle Wright and Ty Tice to Triple-A, while catcher Alex Jackson and lefty Tucker Davidson were moved to the 60-day IL to create space for Chavez and Roark on the 40-man roster.

12:26PM: The Braves will select the contract of right-hander Jesse Chavez to start a bullpen game against the Reds tonight, tweets Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Chavez signed a minor league pact with the Braves back in April.

It was already known that Atlanta would be going with a bullpen game Thursday after recently placing Max Fried on the injured list due to a blister and playing a pair of doubleheaders this week. The Braves have yet to formally announce the move themselves, though that announcement — and a corresponding 40-man roster move — figures to come along shortly.

Chavez, 37, is a 13-year Major League veteran who’ll now be in his second stint as a member of the Braves. He pitched in 28 games for Atlanta back in 2010 when he was still working to solidify himself as a viable big league arm. Things didn’t pan out the first time around, but Chavez has gone on to have a solid career as a well-traveled swingman. From 2013-19, he split time between the A’s, Blue Jays, Dodgers, Angels, Rangers and Cubs, working to a combined 4.12 ERA in 738 2/3 innings (77 starts, 230 relief outings).

The 2020 season was an ugly one for Chavez, who was tagged for 13 runs in 17 innings out of the Rangers’ bullpen. He’s bounced back with a strong showing for Triple-A Gwinnett in 2021, logging 20 innings of 2.25 ERA ball with a 27-to-8 K/BB ratio. He’s been particularly sharp of late, rattling off six straight shutout innings and punching out 11 of his past 22 opponents.

Chavez hasn’t thrown more than two innings or topped 35 pitches in any of his 13 appearances with Gwinnett this season, so it’s unlikely he’ll be tasked with pitching any more than three innings unless he makes particularly quick work of the Reds the first time through the order. Today’s outing figures to be a spot start, but Chavez has a solid overall track record in the Majors and could stick around to give the Braves some depth in the bullpen if he fares well.

Indians Make Four Roster Moves

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The Indians announced a quartet of roster moves today, including the news that right-hander Aaron Civale has been placed on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to June 22) with a sprained middle finger on his throwing hand.  Also, catcher Ryan Lavarnway has been designated for assignment.  The two open roster spots will be taken by catcher Austin Hedges and right-hander Justin Garza — Hedges has been activated off the concussion-related injury list, while Garza’s contract was selected from Triple-A.

Civale is expected to be out of action for 4-to-5 weeks, in the latest blow to Cleveland’s injury-plagued rotation.  With Shane Bieber, Zach Plesac, and now Civale on the IL, the Tribe are missing their top three starters, leaving a makeshift starting five of very inexperienced pitchers tasked with keeping the team afloat in the AL Central race.

With several pitchers moving from the bullpen to fill these holes in the rotation, Garza gets the opportunity to make his MLB debut.  An eighth-round pick for the Tribe in the 2015 draft, Garza isn’t ranked by Baseball America or MLB Pipeline as a top-30 prospect in Cleveland’s farm system, but the righty has an 0.42 ERA over 21 1/3 combined innings at Double-A and Triple-A this season.  This is Garza’s first season working exclusively as a reliever, and the result is an uptick in his strikeout rate (to an impressive 35.36%), though also a 15% walk rate.

Lavarnway signed a minor league deal with the Indians this past offseason, and his contract was selected from Triple-A last week when Hedges was placed on the concussion-IL.  Lavarnway played in four games, officially putting him in the books as appearing (if sparingly) in ten different Major League seasons.  The journeyman backstop has appeared in just 160 games total over those 10 seasons, suiting up for eight different teams at the big league level.

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