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Athletics Claim Joel Payamps

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The A’s announced that they have claimed right-hander Joel Payamps off waivers from the Royals, who designated him for assignment earlier this week. To create room on the 40-man roster, fellow righty Paul Blackburn was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

Payamps, 28, has appeared in the big leagues in each of the past four seasons, spending time with the Diamondbacks, Blue Jays and Royals. With KC this year, he’s logged 42 2/3 innings out of the bullpen with a 3.16 ERA. His 17.6% strikeout rate is a few ticks below league average, but his 53.3% ground ball rate is a few points above.

For the rebuilding A’s, they will take a shot on Payamps, which makes sense for a couple of reasons. His low-strikeout, pitch-to-contact profile could be a good match for the spacious confines of the Coliseum. He’s also yet to reach arbitration, having come into this season with just over a year of service time. If he sticks with the low-spending A’s as a valuable bullpen piece, they can keep him around cheaply for years to come.

As for Blackburn, it was reported earlier this week that he’s been shut down for the remainder of the season. That means today’s transfer is a mere formality.

Dodgers Reinstate Dustin May, Designate Reyes Moronta

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The Dodgers announced that right-handed pitcher Dustin May has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. In a corresponding move, fellow right-hander Reyes Moronta was designated for assignment.

May, 24, has finished his long journey back from Tommy John surgery. It was reported earlier this week that the club was planning to reinstate May to take the hill today. He will jump back into a rotation that certainly has its strengths but also has its concerns. Julio Urias, Tony Gonsolin and Tyler Anderson are all having great seasons, but Walker Buehler is done for the season. Clayton Kershaw is also on the IL, currently working his way back. Andrew Heaney is currently with the club but has only made eight starts on the year between various IL stints.

As for Moronta, 29, he had a tremendous showing with the Giants in 2018 and 2019 but has faced adversity in the subsequent seasons. Over that ’18-’19 stretch, he threw 121 2/3 innings with a 2.66 ERA and 29.3% strikeout rate. That also came with a high 13.8% walk rate, though it was still a very encouraging breakout, with Moronta racking up 27 holds in that stretch.

Since then, shoulder surgery kept him from appearing in the 2020 season before a flexor strain limited him to just four innings last year. He was outrighted by the Giants and elected free agency, signing with the Dodgers on a minor league with a $1.5MM guarantee if he made the active roster.

Moronta did indeed crack the roster, getting selected towards the end of April. Since then, he’s thrown 23 2/3 innings for the Dodgers, though he hasn’t quite returned to his previous form. Through 23 2/3 innings, he has a 4.18 ERA. He’s still getting strikeouts at a healthy 27.6% clip, but is also still giving out walks at a 10.2% rate. The key difference might be the long ball, however, as Moronta has allow five this season after only allowing eight over that two-year stretch with the Giants.

Despite that increase in homers, Moronta could find plenty of interest on the waiver wire, given that he still has the ability to set down batters on strikes. He’s still owed roughly $370K for the remainder of the season, not a huge sum by MLB standards. He could also be retained into the future for any team that believed in him. He came into this year with exactly four years of MLB service time but wasn’t called up until a few weeks into the season. That means he could be retained via arbitration for another two seasons by any club that wanted to give him a shot. Since the trade deadline has now passed, the Dodgers will have no choice but to put him on outright waivers or release waivers in the coming days.

Rays Reinstate Manuel Margot, Designate Ralph Garza Jr.

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The Rays announced that they have reinstated outfielder Manuel Margot from the 60-day injured list. To make room on the active roster, fellow outfielder Roman Quinn was placed on the 10-day IL due to a left knee contusion. To open a spot on the 40-man roster, right-hander Ralph Garza Jr. was designated for assignment.

The return of Margot, 27, is certainly welcome news for the Rays on a few fronts. For one thing, Margot seemed to be in the midst of a breakout season before being beset by injuries. For many years, Margot has been a below-average hitter, but still a useful contributor by way of his speed and defense. Coming into this year, he had a career batting line of .251/.306/.388, but burst forth this year to a line of .302/.365/.423. That huge improvement was in a small sample of just 51 games, but Margot was denied the opportunity to stretch it out over a longer sample when he strained the patellar tendon in his right knee.

That injury occurred in late June, with Margot now returning after two months. In that span, the club’s outfield took damage elsewhere, with Kevin Kiermaier undergoing season-ending hip surgery. Harold Ramirez also missed close to a month with a broken thumb. Though he has since been reinstated, he has been acting as the designated hitter in his return to action. Due to the depleted outfield depth, the club traded for Quinn, David Peralta and Jose Siri just before the deadline to improve the situation. With Quinn now heading to the IL, Margot will step into an outfield mix with Siri, Peralta and Randy Arozarena. If Margot can pick up where he left off earlier in the year, he should help the Rays over the final weeks of the season. They are currently in possession of the final Wild Card spot in the American League, but just half a game ahead of the Twins and with three other teams within five games.

As for Garza, 28, he was drafted by the Astros and made his MLB debut with them last year. Since then, he’s been bounced around rosters quite a bit, first being claimed off waivers by the Twins in August of last year. He then landed with the Red Sox in March but quickly went to the Rays in April, both on waiver claims. He’s been optioned and recalled by the Rays all season long, throwing 35 innings at the big league level and 25 1/3 in Triple-A. He’s fared well at both levels, putting up a 2.84 ERA with Durham and a 3.34 ERA in the majors. However, his 11.1% strikeout rate at the major league level is less than half the league average, meaning those results might not be terribly sustainable. xERA, FIP, xFIP and SIERA all place him above 5.00 for the year. Garza has much better strikeout numbers in the minors, though, meaning he could find another gear if he can bring some of those Ks up to the big leagues.

Garza technically still has options remaining, though he’s already been optioned seven times this season. As part of the new collective bargaining agreement that went into effect this year, players can’t be optioned more than five times per season, after being unlimited under previous agreements. In the post-lockout rush to return to action, rosters were temporarily increased and it was agreed that options prior to May 2 wouldn’t count towards this limit. This was to allow teams greater flexibility in rotating arms in and out, in order to avoid overly taxing players after the short ramp-up. Two of Garza’s option were in April but the other five were after that May 2 cutoff date. He will still be optionable for another season beyond this one, however.

Brewers Activate Omar Narvaez, Option Mario Feliciano

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The Brewers have activated catcher Omar Narvaez from the injured list, the team announced. To create the open roster spot, fellow backstop Mario Feliciano was optioned to Triple-A.

This is the third season that Narvaez has at least held a share of the Brewers’ primary catching responsibilities, including an All-Star campaign in 2021. This season, his offense has been down a little bit to a 93 wRC+ mark that’s certainly within striking distance of his 101 wRC+ career average. In 60 games, Narvaez is hitting .237/.324/.363 across 216 plate appearances.

Feliciano is the up-and-comer in the Brewers’ catching room, though he has not had much opportunity in the bigs. The 23-year-old appeared in just two games, going 1-for-4 at the plate with a walk and a strikeout. He has posted solid numbers in Triple-A, slashing .288/.346/.382 over 235 plate appearances.

Pirates Activate, Option Nick Mears

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Pirates right-hander Nick Mears has been activated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to Triple-A, per Kevin Gorman of Tribune-Review Sports (via Twitter). Mears recently completed a rehab assignment as part of his recovery from right elbow surgery. Now that Mears is back, the Pirates’ 40-man roster is full.

As part of his rehab, Mears made 18 appearances in Triple-A, pitching to a 6.89 ERA over 15 2/3 innings. Before the elbow injury, the 25-year-old right-hander made his debut with the Pirates in 2020 over four outings. He took on a more substantive role last season, making 30 appearances and pitching to a 5.01 ERA/5.66 FIP across 23 1/3 innings.

With an option remaining, the Pirates can easily keep Mears in Triple-A for now as he aims for more consistency on the hill. He will be a depth piece for the rest of the season, though with closer David Bednar hoping to return at some point, the bullpen already may be overcrowded.

Red Sox Release Danny Santana

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The Red Sox have released utilityman Danny Santana, leaving the veteran free to find another organization on the open market, per Chris Hatfield of SoxProspects.com (via Twitter).

Hatfield notes that Boston signed Santana when injuries had depleted their depth, but after the trade deadline, the veteran was pushed out of the conversation for an immediate call-up. The switch-hitter was a reasonable depth option at the time, capable of playing all over the diamond. He has appeared at every position in his career except for pitcher and catcher.

The 31-year-old owns a career .255/.296/.413 line across 1,866 career plate appearances with the Red Sox, Rangers, Braves, and Twins. He stepped to the plate 127 times for the Red Sox in 2021, his only season with Boston. He struggled to make a positive impact at the plate, however, slashing .181/.252/.345 in that time.

Orioles Designate Brett Phillips For Assignment, Select Kyle Stowers

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The Orioles announced a series of roster moves Friday, most notably designating veteran outfielder Brett Phillips for assignment and selecting the contract of outfield prospect Kyle Stowers. Baltimore also recalled infielder Richie Martin and lefty Nick Vespi from Triple-A Norfolk, placed infielder Terrin Vavra on the paternity list and optioned right-hander Logan Gillaspie to Norfolk.

Phillips, 28, was acquired from the Rays in exchange for cash on the morning of Aug. 2, just hours before the trade deadline. He’d recently been designated for assignment by Tampa Bay, following the Rays’ acquisition of Jose Siri. Phillips received just 17 plate appearances in his nearly three weeks with Baltimore, going 2-for-17 with a pair of doubles, no walks and nine strikeouts (.118/.118/.235).

Despite the fact that Phillips carries a dismal .147/.217/.249 batting line through 225 plate appearances this season, there’s a decent chance that he’ll end up being claimed once the Orioles put him on waivers (which is the only course of action for them to take now that he’s been designated for assignment and the trade deadline has passed). Phillips is regarded as one of the game’s best gloves — a lights-out defender with plus speed who can handle any of the three outfield slots with aplomb, as evidenced by career marks of 39 Defensive Runs Saved, a 25.3 Ultimate Zone Rating and 31 Outs Above Average (in just 2136 innings of outfield play).

Phillips has never provided a ton of value with the bat, but he’s been considerably better in past seasons than his 2022 numbers would indicate. Entering the 2022 season, Phillips was a .203/.291/.381 hitter with 23 home runs and 29 steals (34 tries) through 675 plate appearances. That’s still well below the league average, of course, but paired with his elite brand of outfield defense, that blend of power and speed still made him a valuable role player.

Given the speed, defense and power, Phillips figures to hold appeal to outfield-needy teams on the waiver wire — particularly with rosters soon to expand from 26 to 28 players in September. Phillips is an ideal late-inning option to have on a postseason club, as he’s an upgrade over at least one outfielder on any team in the Majors and is a threat for a stolen base or perhaps a pinch-hit against a right-handed arm in the right scenario.

As for Stowers, 24, the outfielder was chosen with the 71st overall selection in the 2019 draft. Since then, he’s earned praise from prospect evaluators, largely because of his offensive work. Baseball America has ranked him as one of the top 30 Baltimore prospects in each of the past three years. This year, he’s played 95 games in Triple-A, hitting 19 home runs and slashing .264/.357/.527. That production amounts to a wRC+ of 131, indicating he’s been 31% better at the plate than the league average hitter. He’s also lowered his strikeout rate to 25.6% for the season, which is still higher than average but a marked improvement over last year’s 32.3% rate.

Stowers has already made his MLB debut, getting a brief two-game stint in Toronto earlier this year when a couple of his teammates couldn’t make the journey due to their unvaccinated status. Since he was designated a COVID “substitute” for that series, the O’s were able to remove him from the roster without exposing him to waivers. He has now earned a roster spot in the more traditional way and figures to get a more extended look this time around.

Stowers has played 44 games in center field this year, along with 38 in right and 13 in left. He will jump into an outfield mix that also includes Cedric Mullins, Austin Hays, Anthony Santander and Ryan McKenna, though Santander has been getting a lot of time as the designated hitter since the Trey Mancini trade.

The Orioles have burst forth out of their rebuild this season and are hanging around the American League postseason picture, currently just 2 1/2 games back. Stowers will have the final six-plus weeks of the season to try to help them with that race as well as trying to earn a spot on the team’s roster going forward, for a club whose future looks increasingly bright.

Outrights: Demeritte, Walker

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Updates on a couple of players that were recently designated for assignment…

  • The Braves announced that outfielder Travis Demeritte has been outrighted to Triple-A Gwinnett. The 27-year-old had been designated for assignment earlier in the week. Originally drafted by the Rangers, Demeritte was traded to Atlanta in 2016 and then traded to Detroit in 2019. He made his MLB debut with the Tigers before coming back to the Braves on a waiver claim last year. Atlanta passed him through waivers in February of last year, keeping him in the minors all season, but then selecting him to the 40-man roster in November to prevent him reaching minor league free agency. He’s played 26 big league games this year, hitting .213/.260/.337, while hitting .207/.291/.357 in 38 Triple-A games. Because he had been previously outrighted in his career, Demeritte has the right to reject this assignment, though it’s not yet clear whether he’s decided to exercise that right or not.
  • Outfielder Steele Walker, who was designated for assignment by the Giants earlier this week, cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Sacramento, tweets Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Walker, 26, was originally drafted by the White Sox but was flipped to the Rangers for Nomar Mazara in 2019. Texas selected him to the roster in June but gave him the DFA treatment a couple of weeks ago. The Giants claimed him and quickly DFA’d him again, with Walker clearing waivers this time. He only got into five MLB games while with the Rangers, spending most of the season in Triple-A. In 55 games between the Round Rock Express and Sacramento River Cats, he’s hit .268/.345/.431, striking out just 17% of the time. Since this is his first career outright and he has less than three years of MLB service time, he is ineligible to reject the assignment. He’ll stick with the River Cats and serve as depth for the Giants, but without occupying a spot on the club’s 40-man roster.

Athletics Select Norge Ruiz

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The A’s announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Norge Ruiz from Triple-A Las Vegas. Fellow righty Domingo Tapia has been optioned to create space on the active roster. The club already had a vacancy on their 40-man roster.

Ruiz, 28, was signed by the A’s in December of 2016, earning a $2MM bonus from the club. While most international signees are teenagers, Ruiz was already 22 at the time, having already played a few seasons in the Cuban National Series.

Ruiz worked as a starting pitcher in his first few years in Oakland’s system but struggled to find success there. He moved to the bullpen in 2019 and has had better results since then. He’s spent all of this year in Triple-A so far, throwing 40 innings for the Aviators. In that time, he has a 3.38 ERA with a 22.4% strikeout rate, 8.8% walk rate and 58.3% ground ball rate.

The A’s entered a rebuilding phase this year by trading away or releasing most players who were making a significant salary or approaching free agency. That’s left the roster with a number of young players still getting acclimated to big league ball, helping them drop to a 43-76 record, worst in the American League. Over the final weeks of the season, they will continue evaluating those youngsters for roles on future rosters, with Ruiz now entering the mix.

Mets Designate Deven Marrero, Outright Nick Plummer

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The Mets announced to reporters, including Tim Healey of Newsday, that infielder Deven Marrero has been designated for assignment. That move paves the way for the activation of infielder Yolmer Sanchez, who was claimed off waivers from the Red Sox yesterday. Additionally, outfielder Nick Plummer cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Syracuse.

This ends a very brief stay on the roster for Marrero, as the 31-year-old was only selected on Monday. He got into three games but made just four plate appearances before losing his roster spot. He has now played for four big league teams, after previously appearing in games for the Red Sox, Diamondbacks and Marlins.

He was outrighted off the Marlins’ roster at the end of last season and signed a minor league deal with the Mets in July. In 32  games at Triple-A this year, he hit .236/.325/.358 for a wRC+ of 86. Though he’s never been a strong hitter, Marrero does provided defensive versatility. The former first round pick has played second, third and short this year, in addition to having played first base and left field in previous seasons.

With the trade deadline now gone and Marrero DFA’d, the Mets will have no choice but to place him on waivers, either the outright kind of the release kind. Since he’s previously been outrighted in his career, he would be eligible to reject an outright assignment and return to free agency.

The same can’t be said of Plummer, who was signed by the Mets to a major league deal in November, which was his first time joining a 40-man roster. He hit .138/.194/.379 in 14 big league games and .231/.317/.370 in 58 Triple-A games. He was designated for assignment earlier this week and has now cleared waivers. Since this is his first outright and he has less than three years of MLB service time, he is unable to reject the assignment. He will remain with the Mets as depth but without occupying a spot on the 40-man roster.

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