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Preston Tucker, KBO’s Kia Tigers Agree To Deal

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Outfielder Preston Tucker is set to sign with the Kia Tigers of the Korea Baseball Organization, per an announcement from the Tigers (link via Jee-ho Yoo of the Yonhap News Agency). He’ll take a physical for them on Monday. Tucker had been with the White Sox’ Triple-A affiliate to begin the 2019 season but will seemingly be granted his release. With the Tigers, he’ll take the spot of another former MLB outfielder, Jeremy Hazelbaker, who is being released.

Tucker, 28, had two separate stints with the Braves in 2018 as well as one with the Reds, hitting a combined .229/.299/.404 with six homers and 11 doubles in 184 plate appearances. He was one of several unexpected contributors who helped to carry the Braves early in the season before the debut of Ronald Acuna last season, raking at a .288/.333/.538 clip through his first 18 games (and, like Hazelbaker with the ’16 Cardinals, serving as a reminder that April stats can be quite misleading). He posted just a .626 OPS from that point through season’s end, however.

Tucker has seen 651 plate appearances at the MLB level and has a rather meek .222/.281/.403 slash to show for his efforts, though he sports a much heftier .273/.341/.467 line in 1411 PAs across parts of six Triple-A seasons.

As for the 31-year-old Hazelbaker, he signed a one-year deal with the Tigers in the offseason but will see his stint there end after just 11 games and a .146/.239/.341 batting line through 46 plate appearances. Hazelbaker had a down year in a 2018 season he split between the Triple-A affiliates for the Twins and the Rays, but he’s a lifetime .259/.327/.436 hitter in parts of seven Triple-A campaigns.

White Sox Sign Ross Detwiler

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The White Sox have added veteran lefty Ross Detwiler on a minor-league arrangement. The transaction was announced by the indy ball York Revolution, the club that Detwiler opened the season with.

Detwiler, 33, had turned in three solid starts in Atlantic League action to earn his way back into the affiliated ranks. The former sixth overall draft pick has thrown in parts of ten MLB campaigns.

If he’s to make it back to the bigs, Detwiler will need to earn his way onto the Chicago roster with a good showing at Triple-A. He hasn’t spent substantial time in the majors since 2016, with only one start logged since that time.

Over 584 career innings, Detwiler owns a 4.36 ERA with 5.5 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9. Though he never reached the ceiling suggested by his draft position, he had his moments with the Nats. From 2011-13, Detwiler threw 301 2/3 innings of 3.46 ERA ball while working mostly as a starter.

White Sox Sign Ivan De Jesus To Minors Deal

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  • The White Sox have added infielder Ivan De Jesus Jr. on a minor-league deal, per an announcement from the Long Island Ducks. De Jesus had opened the season with the indy ball outfit but will now slide back to the affiliated ranks. The 32-year-old is a .242/.303/.327 hitter in 545 plate appearances over parts of four seasons. He’s mostly a middle infielder by trade but has seen action in the corner infield and outfield as well over the years. De Jesus will report to the Sox’ top affiliate.

Minor MLB Transactions: 5/6/19

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Here are the day’s minor moves from around the game:

  • Catcher Brett Nicholas announced today that he’s hanging up his spikes. He had been with the White Sox organization on a minors deal. The 30-year-old Nicholas was selected by the Rangers in the sixth-round of the 2010 draft. He remained with the Texas organization through the 2017 campaign. Nicholas appeared briefly in the bigs with the Rangers in parts of two seasons. In 110 total plate appearances, he posted a .252/.300/.456 slash. Nicholas was typically a sturdy offensive producer in the minors, but never inspired quite enough confidence with the glove to earn a lengthy showing at the game’s highest level.
  • The Rockies have added a pair of 29-year-old hurlers from the indy ball ranks, per announcements from their former teams. Righty Tim Melville comes to the Colorado organization from the Long Island Ducks, while southpaw Pat Dean had been with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. Melville has briefly reached the big leagues. He spent all of 2018 at the Triple-A level with the Orioles, working to a 5.33 ERA in 104 2/3 innings in a swingman capacity. Dean received a 67 1/3-inning opportunity with the Twins in 2016 but scuffled to a 6.28 ERA. He spent camp this year with the Minnesota organization after a two-year KBO stint.

Carlos Rodon Set For Second Opinion After TJS Recommendation

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White Sox lefty Carlos Rodon has received an initial recommendation that he undergo Tommy John surgery, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports on Twitter. He’s headed in for a second opinion before a final course is set.

It was already known that a full ulnar collateral ligament replacement was possible for the 26-year-old southpaw. But that scarcely draws the sting for the Chicago organization, which already lost another of its other top young arms when Michael Kopech underwent the dreaded (but often career-saving) procedure last season.

If Rodon does indeed require TJS, he’ll be down for the entire remainder of the 2019 season. His rehab would surely stretch into the 2020 campaign as well. The best-case scenario, presuming steady progress on a fairly conservative timetable, would likely be a return next summer.

Perhaps there’s still hope that Rodon can avoid the procedure. Other hurlers have rehabbed through UCL injuries and there are some alternatives that don’t require quite as long a layoff. The possibilities and odds aren’t really clear at this point.

Regardless, it’s clear that Rodon will be sidelined for a lengthy stretch. That’s too bad, as the former third overall pick had in some ways been in his finest form as a big leaguer thus far in 2019.

While his 5.19 ERA on the season isn’t much to look at, Rodon was punching out opposing hitters at a 11.9 K/9 rate on a 12.1% swinging-strike rate while maintaining a 18.3% K%-BB%. Those are all career-best figures. Rodon is also surrendering more hard contact to go with the unsightly ERA, so clearly there were some kinks still to be worked out in his newly four-seam heavy approach.

Fortunately, even if Rodon does need a new ligament, he’ll have ample hope of returning to full health and rejoining the pursuit of his not-insignificant ceiling. He’s playing on a $4.2MM salary this year and has two more arb years remaining. In the event of season-ending surgery, the White Sox will have to stake something around that amount (perhaps adding a small raise) in order to maintain control over Rodon for his final two seasons of arbitration eligibility.

White Sox Select Charlie Tilson, Transfer Nate Jones To 60-Day IL

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The White Sox announced Monday that they’ve selected the contract of outfielder Charlie Tilson from Triple-A Charlotte and, in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster, transferred righty Nate Jones from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day injured list. Jones, Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times tweets, has a flexor pronator strain in his right forearm. Chicago also reinstated right-hander Ryan Burr from the 10-day IL. Tilson and Burr will take over the active roster spots of center fielder Adam Engel and lefty Caleb Frare, who have each been optioned to Triple-A.

Tilson was once a rather promising outfield prospect for the South Siders (and the Cardinals before them), but he suffered a torn hamstring in his MLB debut in 2016 and missed the remainder of the season. A stress reaction in Tilson’s ankle in 2017 ultimately resulted in an ankle fracture in 2017, limiting Tilson to just seven games in the Arizona Fall League. His 2018 campaign was a disappointment both in Triple-A and in more limited MLB action, and Tilson was ultimately outrighted off the 40-man roster.

This season, however, the 26-year-old is off to a blistering start in Charlotte. Through 111 trips to the plate, Tilson has raked at a .333/.396/.475 pace with a homer, seven doubles, two triples and three steals. His .410 average on balls in play is a clear indicator of some impending regression, but Tilson is walking at a career-best 10 percent clip and collecting more extra-base hits at a career-high rate as well. Given that Engel has posted a dreadful .207/.262/.316 slash in 857 big league plate appearances dating back to 2017, there’s little harm in seeing if Tilson can provide a meaningful upgrade.

As for Jones, the injury is the latest in a long line of maladies for the talented 33-year-old. There’s little debating that a healthy version of Jones is a potential wipeout reliever; in his past 141 2/3 innings in the Majors, he’s pitched to a 2.67 ERA and averaged ten and a half strikeouts per nine innings pitched while averaging nearly 97 mph on his fastball. Unfortunately for both Jones and the White Sox, those 141 2/3 innings have been scattered across five seasons, 2019 included, because of arm troubles. Most notably, he missed the 2014 season due to Tommy John surgery and then underwent surgery to re-position the ulnar nerve in his right arm in 2017. There’s no clear timetable for his return right now, but he was placed on the 10-day IL on April 28, meaning he’ll be sidelined for at least 60 days from that point forth.

White Sox Notes: Eloy, Herrera

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  • Eloy Jimenez’s high ankle sprain was seemingly going to put the young slugger out of action until mid-May, though MLB.com’s Scott Merkin reports (Twitter link) that Jimenez will now travel with the White Sox for their four-game series in Cleveland beginning on Monday.  As Merkin describes things, it is a “much much better scenario….[than] it first looked upon injury.”  It seems as though Jimenez will be able to avoid a minor league rehab stint and could end up spending only the 10-day minimum on the IL, though the Sox will obviously be as cautious as possible with their top prospect.
  • In other White Sox injury news, Kelvin Herrera left today’s game due to back stiffness and is day-to-day, manager Rick Renteria told Merkin and other reporters.  Herrera may not miss any substantial amount of time, as Renteria believes “it’s going to be something very light in terms of injury.”  It’s likely the back issue contributed to Herrera’s rough outing today, as he allowed five runs in just two-third of an inning against the Red Sox.  Prior to today’s ugliness, Herrera had been off to a nice start with Chicago, with a 2.76 ERA, 8.8 K/9, and 4.00 K/BB rate in his first 16 1/3 frames of the season.

Jake Peavy Retires

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Right-hander Jake Peavy last pitched professionally in 2016, and though he was angling to return to the majors last summer, that attempt has come to an end. Recent reports from Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe and Scott Miller of Bleacher Report indicate the 37-year-old Peavy has decided to hang up his cleats.

Peavy spent his final two-plus seasons in San Francisco, but his peak came as the ace of NL West rival San Diego’s staff.  In a move that ranks among the wisest in franchise history, the Padres used a 15th-round pick in 1999 on Peavy, who debuted in 2002. Just two years later, he emerged as one of the majors’ premier pitchers.

During a 1,050-inning run in San Diego from 2004-09, Peavy pitched to a 3.02 ERA/3.16 FIP with 9.44 K/9 against 2.74 BB/9 and helped the Padres to their two most recent playoff berths (2005-06). He also earned a pair of All-Star nods and twice led the National League in both ERA and strikeouts in that period, during which he accumulated the majors’ fifth-highest fWAR among starters (26.4). Only luminaries Johan Santana, CC Sabathia, Roy Oswalt and Roy Halladay outdid Peavy in that category.

In the crowning personal achievement of his career, Peavy beat out Oswalt and others for the NL Cy Young Award in 2007, when he fired 223 1/3 innings of 2.54 ERA/2.84 FIP ball, amassed 240 strikeouts and led all big league pitchers in fWAR (6.7). It was the third straight season of at least 200 innings for Peavy, who exceeded that mark twice more later in his career.

Peavy was unquestionably the Padres’ most valuable player during his seven-plus years in their uniform. However, his reign in San Diego came to an end in August 2009 when the non-contenders traded him to the White Sox for Clayton Richard, Aaron Poreda, Dexter Carter and Adam Russell.

Save for Richard, who had a long but unspectacular run in San Diego, no one from that group panned out for the Padres. Meanwhile, despite Peavy’s presence, the White Sox never secured a playoff berth during his stint with the franchise. It didn’t help that Peavy often battled injuries throughout his tenure as a member of the White Sox, with whom his numbers declined. Still, he did log a respectable 4.00 ERA/3.70 FIP in 537 2/3 frames with the Pale Hose and pick up his third and final All-Star appearance with the club in 2012.

In July 2013, a year after his last truly great season, Peavy changed Sox when Chicago dealt him to Boston in a three-team, seven-player trade that also included Detroit. Peavy wasn’t any kind of rotation savior by then, but he was still a solid starter whose acquisition paid dividends for the Red Sox during their run to a World Series championship that season. However, Boston couldn’t defend its title in 2014, a season in which it nosedived in the standings and ended up dealing Peavy to the Giants for pitchers Edwin Escobar and Heath Hembree.

For the second straight season, Peavy was a midsummer acquisition for a franchise that went on to a championship. Peavy gave the 2014 Giants the vintage version of himself in terms of run prevention over 78 2/3 regular-season innings (2.17 ERA), and he helped the club to NLDS and NLCS victories. Although Peavy struggled in both of his World Series starts, a pair of losses to the Royals, the Giants nonetheless triumphed in a seven-game classic. They then brought back Peavy on a two-year, $24MM contract, which will go down as the last deal of his career. While Peavy pitched well in the first of those seasons, injuries held him to 110 2/3 innings. He was only able to manage another 118 2/3 frames in 2016, a career-worst campaign that included a demotion to the Giants’ bullpen.

Although Peavy’s time in the majors didn’t end on a high note, he enjoyed a prolific career that most pitchers would sign up for without a second thought. Along with his personal and team awards, Peavy registered a 152-126 record, 2,207 strikeouts and a 3.63 ERA/3.65 FIP in 2,377 innings en route to 44.1 fWAR/37.5 rWAR and upward of $127MM in earnings. MLBTR congratulates Peavy on an outstanding career and wishes him the best in his post-playing days.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

White Sox Select Juan Minaya, Move Jon Jay To 60-Day IL

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The White Sox have selected right-handed reliever Juan Minaya from Triple-A Charlotte and transferred outfielder Jon Jay to the 60-day injured list, James Fegan of The Athletic tweets.

Minaya has returned to Chicago’s 40-man roster less than two months after the team outrighted him to the minors. The 28-year-old has struggled to a 5.51 ERA/5.99 FIP in 16 1/3 innings in Charlotte since then, but that didn’t stop the White Sox from bringing him back to their unspectacular bullpen. White Sox relievers rank toward the bottom of the majors in strikeouts, whereas Minaya specializes in fanning opposing hitters. Minaya has struck out 12.67 hitters per nine in the minors this year, and he put up 10.28 K/9 (against 4.83 BB/9) with the White Sox from 2016-18. He also pitched to a passable 3.93 ERA/4.04 FIP during that 100 2/3-inning span.

Jay, meanwhile, still hasn’t suited up for the Sox since they signed the contact-hitting veteran to a a one-year, $4MM guarantee over the winter. The 34-year-old went on the 10-day IL on March 26 with a hip issue, and his move to the 60-day version means he won’t come back until at least late May. There’s no timetable for his return, though, per MLB.com’s Scott Merkin, who reports Jay is headed to extended spring training to rehab.

White Sox Sign Justin Nicolino

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  • The White Sox have signed left-hander Justin Nicolino to a minor league contract, according to Roster Roundup. The 27-year-old Nicolino’s back to work just a few days after the Twins released him. He opened the season with Minnesota’s top minors affiliate and struggled over 19 1/3 innings (four appearances, three starts), notching a 5.12 ERA with 6.05 K/9 and 3.72 BB/9. Major league success has largely eluded Nicolino, once a quality prospect whom Toronto selected in the second round of the 2010 draft. Since then, the strikeout-challenged Nicolino has posted a 4.65 ERA with 3.8 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 in 201 1/3 big league innings – all of which came with the Marlins from 2015-17. He has managed somewhat better production across 432 2/3 Triple-A frames, though, with a 4.01 ERA and 5.4 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9.
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