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Marlins Designate Mike Aviles, Shake Up Pitching Staff

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The Marlins have announced a host of roster moves, with the club designating infielder Mike Aviles for assignment to open a 40-man and active roster spot. He’ll be replaced by fellow infielder Christian Colon, who was claimed yesterday.

Righties Brian Ellington and Odrisamer Despaigne are coming up for Miami, as MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro tweeted last night. Veteran reliever Junichi Tazawa will hit the 10-day DL with what the team is calling “rib cartilage inflammation,” while starter Tom Koehler was optioned as expected.

The 36-year-old Aviles was only up briefly for the Fish, appearing in two games after a one-game stop at Triple-A. It seems reasonably likely that he’ll end up clearing waivers and heading back to the upper minors for a full ramp-up. He played in the World Baseball Classic, but did not sign until Miami came calling a week and a half ago as infield injuries mounted.

Times are tough for Miami, which has dropped to the NL East basement with a 14-24 record. The club has lost multiple key infielders and made several changes to an ineffective and injury-laden pitching staff. Colon will hopefully represent a patch for the infield, while Ellington will slot in the pen and Despaigne will offer a swingman option.

Meanwhile, lefty Wei-Yin Chen is said to have received relatively positive news following a recent MRI, per MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro (via Twitter). He’s still going to “need more time,” though, before he’s able to work back to the hill. Chen is currently on the DL with arm fatigue; it now seems he’ll miss a fair bit more time than had initially been expected.

Given the issues in the rotation, the organization is considering moving righty David Phelps out of the bullpen, Frisaro further tweets. Phelps thrived in both roles last year. While he’s carrying only a 4.05 ERA in twenty relief innings thus far in 2017, he has sustained most of the strides he made last year in his peripherals. Thus far, Phelps has maintained 9.9 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9, with an 8.1% swinging-strike rate that lags last year’s mark (9.8%) but handily tops his career average (6.6%).

Marlins Claim Christian Colon, Designate Steve Lombardozzi

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The Marlins have claimed infielder Christian Colon off waivers from the Royals, per a club announcement. Miami designated fellow infielder Steve Lombardozzi to create roster space.

[Related: Updated Miami Marlins depth chart]

Colon, who just turned 28, had played a limited role thus far for Kansas City in 2017 and was designated for assignment recently. He carried a .263/.323/.329 batting line over 348 plate appearances in his four seasons with the Royals. While that fell far shy of expectations when Colon was taken with the fourth overall pick of the 2010 draft, he did end up playing a notable role in the organization’s 2014-15 postseason runs.

The Marlins have scrambled to find infield help over the past several weeks amidst a wave of injuries. Colon will now take the place of Lombardozzi, who was hitless in eight plate appearances. He has appeared in just 34 MLB games since the start of the 2014 season, but had been a regular contributor for the Nationals before that. Lombardozzi opened the current season at Triple-A New Orleans, where he slashed .250/.289/.317 over 129 plate appearances. He seems likely to clear outright waivers and return to New Orleans, though due the fact that he’s been outrighted earlier in his career, he’d also have the ability to reject that assignment and elect free agency

Royals Designate Christian Colon, Peter O’Brien For Assignment

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The Royals announced on Wednesday that they’ve selected the contracts of right-handers Seth Maness (as Derrick Goold first reported earlier this morning) and Al Alburquerque from Triple-A Omaha. In order to clear spots on the 40-man roster, Kansas City designated infielder Christian Colon and minor league outfielder Peter O’Brien for assignment. Additionally, righty Jake Junis was optioned to Omaha.

Kansas City was obviously looking to get some fresh arms into the bullpen, and they’ve chosen two veterans who are looking to get their careers back on track. Maness has been a steady contributor but was non-tendered after undergoing a primary repair procedure (a Tommy John alternative) last year. Alburquerque has plenty of MLB experience, too, though he only received two major league frames last year.

Colon, 27, was the fourth overall pick in the 2010 draft but never lived up to that billing. He looked to have potentially carved out a spot on the Royals’ roster back in 2015 when he slashed .290/.356/.336 through 119 plate appearances as a rookie, but he followed that performance up with a lackluster .231/.294/.293 in a larger sample of 154 PAs last year. Thus far in 2017, Colon had played sparingly, logging 19 PAs and hitting and going 3-for-17 at the plate.

The 26-year-old O’Brien drew plenty of attention in Spring Training after clubbing seven homers and posting a 1.112 OPS, but the slugger’s production wilted in Omaha, where he got off to an unsightly .162/.235/.276 start through 115 plate appearances. The former catcher has long intrigued fans and MLB clubs with his considerable power, but strikeouts and a lack of defensive contributions have limited O’Brien’s opportunities. He did receive 79 MLB plate appearances with the D-backs in 2015-16, though he turned in a .176/.228/.446 batting line and punched out 32 times.

Roster Notes: Brewers, Mets, Royals, Red Sox, Rangers

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The Brewers are down to 24 players after demoting relievers Tyler Cravy and Rob Scahill on Saturday, but general manager David Stearns declined to address whether he’ll add a player from outside the organization, writes Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Both Cravy and Scahill are unhappy that they didn’t earn the 25th spot, per Haudricourt, with Cravy claiming he could seek “a 9 to 5 job where I get treated like a human, at this point.” Continued the 27-year-old: “It would just be nice to have the honesty straight up front instead of, ‘Hey, you’re competing for a job,’ then literally out-compete everyone and be told, ‘Sorry, we have other plans.’ “It says a lot about the integrity, or lack thereof, of the guys running the show, but what are you going to do?”

While Cravy isn’t sure if he’s willing “to play for guys who treat you like this,” Stearns seemed to chalk the right-hander’s comments up to frustration. “Tyler, in particular, went through this last year,” said Stearns. “He made the trip with us (to play Class AA) Biloxi and was sent out at Biloxi. Dealing with this two years in a row is not a pleasant experience. We’re sensitive to that.”

More of the latest roster news:

  • Mets righty Seth Lugo will begin the season on the 10-day disabled list with a tired arm, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. Lugo doesn’t have any structural damage, relays DiComo, who notes that Rafael Montero will claim a spot in the bullpen for as long as he’s out. Lugo spent most of the spring vying for one of the two vacancies in the Mets’ rotation, but the team chose Robert Gsellman and Zack Wheeler over him Thursday.
  • The Royals have optioned infielder/outfielder Whit Merrifield to Triple-A, meaning Christian Colon has won a bench job in Kansas City. Merrifield was easily the better of the two last season, having hit .283/.323/.392 to Colon’s .231/.294/.293, but the latter is out of options and could have ended up with another organization had KC demoted him.
  • With Josh Rutledge on the shelf because of a hamstring injury, the Red Sox have tabbed first baseman/outfielder Steve Selsky for a reserve job. As a right-handed hitter, Selsky is a better fit for the role than the lefty-swinging Marco Hernandez, whom the Red Sox optioned to Triple-A. Selsky, a January waiver claim from the Reds, is likely to platoon at first with the left-handed Mitch Moreland, as Hanley Ramirez (shoulder) still isn’t healthy enough to play the field.
  • Righty Mike Hauschild has made the Rangers’ Opening Day roster, according to TR Sullivan of MLB.com. The Rangers took Hauschild from the AL West rival Astros in December’s Rule 5 draft. The 27-year-old is now in line to make his major league debut, having spent the previous five years in the minors after going to Houston in Round 33 of the 2012 amateur draft. He worked exclusively as a starter at Triple-A over the past two seasons and posted a 3.33 ERA, 7.9 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 in 227 1/3 innings.

Royals Roster Notes: Moylan, Mondesi, Soler, Gore

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A number of Royals moves on Monday moved the team closer to setting their 25-man roster for the start of the season, as Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star and other reporters have noted. Here’s the breakdown of where the Royals’ roster stands:

  • First, the team optioned lefty Scott Alexander and outfielders Billy Burns and Peter O’Brien to Triple-A Omaha and assigned catcher Zane Evans, infielder Humberto Arteaga and relievers Yender Caramo, Eric Stout, Al Alburquerque and Malcom Culver to minor-league camp. The moves left veteran righty Peter Moylan as the Royals’ clear choice for the last spot in their bullpen. (Another veteran, Seth Maness, remains in camp, but he is recovering from injury and will not be ready for Opening Day.) Moylan’s minor-league deal with the Royals contains an opt-out clause tomorrow, so the team seems likely to place him on their 40-man roster shortly. Moylan allowed just one run in eight Spring Training innings, striking out six and walking one.
  • Royals manager Ned Yost also announced that Raul Mondesi would serve as the team’s starting second baseman, beating Whit Merrifield, Christian Colon and Cheslor Cuthbert. Cuthbert will make the team, while Merrifield and Colon are still competing for a bench job. The 21-year-old Mondesi was the surprise winner of the job after batting just .185/.231/.281 in 149 plate appearances in his rookie season in 2016, but he was previously a top prospect and had a very strong spring, batting .378/.391/.623.
  • Finally, Jorge Soler, who had been projected to start in right field, suffered a strained oblique this weekend and appears likely to begin the season on the disabled list. It’s only a grade I strain, MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan tweets, and Soler may be able to begin resuming baseball activities in a week, so perhaps he can avoid a lengthy absence. That means Paulo Orlando will likely begin the season as the team’s right fielder, with Brandon Moss also occasionally helping at the position. Terrance Gore, who the Royals value for his speed and defensive ability, now seems likely to occupy a bench spot with Soler on the shelf.

Royals Designate Reymond Fuentes, Nick Tepesch

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The Royals have designated outfielder Reymond Fuentes and righty Nick Tepesch for assignment, as Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star tweets. Their 40-man spots will go to outfielder Daniel Nava and hurler Kevin McCarthy, whose contracts were selected. Infielder Christian Colon was also recalled to the majors.

Fuentes, 25, has seen action in 13 major league games this year, reaching base at a useful .364 clip but delivering only one extra-base hit. Over his 272 plate appearances this year at Triple-A, he’s slashing just .254/.325/.317, though he has swiped 17 bags in that span.

As for Tepesch, this represents yet another trip through DFA limbo this year. He has also been with the Rangers, Dodgers, and Athletics this season, working almost exclusively at the highest level of the minors. All said, Tepesch has compiled a 3.96 ERA with 4.8 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 in 116 innings at Triple-A this year after missing all of 2015 due to injury (he ultimately underwent thoracic outlet surgery).

K.C. recently acquired Nava from the Angels. He is expected to function mostly as a bench bat to face right-handed pitching. Though he’s a switch-hitter, Nava has historically fared rather poorly against southpaws.

Meanwhile, McCarthy will get his first taste of the majors. The 24-year-old, a 16th-round pick in the 2013 draft, posted a 3.04 ERA in his 68 innings of upper-minors pitching this year, with 7.8 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9.

Royals Designate Jose Martinez For Assignment

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The Royals have designated outfielder Jose Martinez for assignment and optioned Christian Colon to Triple-A Omaha, tweets Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star. The pair of moves creates space on the 40-man and 25-man rosters for infielder/outfielder Whit Merrifield, whose contract has been selected from Omaha.

Martinez, 27, got some consideration for a big league spot on the heels of an otherworldly 2015 season in which he won the Pacific Coast League batting title and posted an overall slash line of .384/.461/.563 with 10 homers in 396 plate appearances last season. However, he had a poor Spring Training and has seen his production come back down to Earth in 2016, hitting .298/.356/.433 through his first 160 plate appearances. That monster campaign restored some of the former White Sox farmhand’s prospect status, with Baseball America rating him 24th in Kansas City’s minor league system this offseason. BA’s scouting report describes Martinez’s swing as a “smooth, flat, line-drive swing” that could generate 10 to 12 homers per season but isn’t likely to yield significant power contributions. They also graded him as an average defender in the outfield corners.

Merrifield, also 27, doesn’t rank among the organization’s top 30 prospects but is enjoying a solid campaign at Triple-A himself and brings some defensive versatility (and an excellent name) to the table. He’s hitting .278/.342/.458 with five homers and 16 steals through just 163 plate appearances this season. He’s appeared at first base, second base, third base and all three outfield spots in 2016, though the bulk of his work in the minors has come at second base and in left field (more than 2000 innings at each position). MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan tweets that manager Ned Yost and many in the front office talked Merrifield up as a perfect 25th man for the roster this Spring Training, so he’s clearly had the eye of Royals decision-makers for awhile, and his strong start to the season will now be rewarded with his first promotion to the Majors.

AL Central Notes: Infante, Tigers, Indians

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The Royals aren’t yet set on Omar Infante at second base and could consider using Christian Colon in a starting role or as part of some sort of time-share, MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan reports. “I don’t know if Omar, at this point, is going to play 162 games,” says Royals GM Dayton Moore. “I just know we’re going to put the best team out there each and every night, and I know Omar is capable of being that guy. But we like Christian Colon, too.” The first two years of Infante’s contract have been disappointing, and the Royals owe him $17.75MM over the next two. Last summer, Infante’s struggles were a key reason for the team’s acquisition of Ben Zobrist, who received a significant amount of playing time at second base down the stretch. Zobrist, of course, signed with the Cubs this winter. As disappointing as Infante has been, it’s possible the 26-year-old Colon won’t be an answer to the Royals’ second-base problems, either — Colon hit .281 and had a .353 on-base percentage at Triple-A Omaha last season, but with virtually no power. Here’s more from the AL Central.

  • The Tigers continue to look for outfielders and relievers, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal and Jon Morosi report (via Twitter). They’re likely looking for “complementary pieces” rather than major acquisitions. The Tigers acquired Cameron Maybin and Francisco Rodriguez in November to bolster their outfield and bullpen, respectively; in December, they also added relievers Justin Wilson and Mark Lowe. The Tigers do still appear to be somewhat weak in the outfield and had been connected to Yoenis Cespedes this winter, although GM Al Avila has downplayed the possibility that the Tigers could sign Cespedes, and a report in late December indicated the Tigers had already made their key moves for the winter.
  • The opportunity to trade both Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher in a single trade was a one-time opportunity that the Indians had to seize, the Plain Dealer’s Paul Hoynes writes. Even though the Indians only acquired infielder Chris Johnson, who was later released, they saved a bit of money and cleared the roster spots of two players who merely would have been very expensive bench options.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Redmond, Cubs, Harvey, O’s, White Sox

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It would be foolhardy for the Marlins to fire manager Mike Redmond this early in the season, opines FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal in his latest notes column. Redmond is well-respected among the industry, Rosenthal notes, and he cannot be blamed for the fact that Henderson Alvarez is injured and Mat Latos has struggled so greatly. (Latos’ diminished velocity is likely a significant culprit in that regard.) Rosenthal writes that owner Jeffrey Loria needs to realize that the unstable culture he creates by cycling through managers so willingly is part of the problem in Miami.

A few more notes from Rosenthal’s latest column…

  • In the video atop his column, Rosenthal notes that Cubs top prospect Addison Russell has begun playing some second base and may eventually get a look there in the Majors. However, because he is their best defensive shortstop, Russell may eventually push Starlin Castro to third base and Kris Bryant to the outfield, or his arrival may lead to a trade of Castro.
  • Rosenthal writes about former Mets GM Omar Minaya’s decision to draft Matt Harvey with the seventh pick in the 2010 draft. The team had been deciding between Harvey and Chris Sale, but the Mets, like many other clubs, had some reservations about whether or not Sale would last as a starter. Minaya became convinced of Harvey after watching him in an April start at the University of Miami, though as Rosenthal notes, others in the front office/scouting department, including Marlin McPhail, Rudy Terrasas and Bryan Lambe all played large roles as well. Interestingly, Rosenthal adds that the White Sox were thrilled to get Chris Sale at No. 13, as they feared the Royals would select him fifth overall. Kansas City instead selected Cal State Fulelrton infielder Christian Colon.
  • Delmon Young told the Orioles that he wanted to regain some of his lost athleticism, and so the team had him work extensively with outfielder-turned-executive Brady Anderson in Spring Training. Young was the first to the clubhouse every day during Spring Training and is now has the fastest 10-yard dash time on the Orioles, per manager Buck Showalter. Rosenthal also notes that Everth Cabrera told the O’s that he knew advanced metrics pegged him as a below-average defender, and he expressed an interest in improving in that area. Baltimore is working with Cabrera to correct a tendency to retreat with his hands and “baby” the ball, as Rosenthal put it.
  • The White Sox weren’t as successful in upgrading their catching position as they’d have liked, but for the time being, they’re content with Tyler Flowers and Geovany Soto. Rosenthal notes that while Welington Castillo is widely believed to be available, the Sox and Cubs rarely make trades.

Quick Hits: Vogelsong, Royals, Lee, Erasmo

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Ryan Vogelsong seemed to be on the verge of signing with the Astros before he eventually rejoined the Giants, and the righty hinted that there was something unusual about how negotiations broke down with Houston.  According to CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman, the issue was that after agreeing to sign Vogelsong to a one-year, $4MM deal, the Astros wanted to pay Vogelsong less after viewing the results of his physical.  Both Astros GM Jeff Luhnow and Vogelsong’s agent Dave Meier declined to comment to Heyman about the situation.

Here’s some more from around the baseball world…

  • The Royals are focused on winning now, which could change their handling of prospects Brandon Finnegan and Christian Colon, MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan writes.  There is “a pretty healthy discussion going on within the Royals’ organization” about Finnegan, who could be a key left-handed bullpen weapon for K.C. this season, though such usage could also hurt his development as a future starter.  A similar argument could be made about Colon and whether he’d be better served playing every day at Triple-A or coming off the Royals’ bench as a utilityman.
  • Though he has a 2016 option that vests if he pitches 200 innings, Cliff Lee is entering his last guaranteed year under contract.  The Phillies southpaw told reporters (including David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News) that he’s hasn’t thought about what lies beyond the coming season.  “We’ll see what it brings,” Lee said.  “I definitely do not want to go out the way things happened last year, I don’t want that to be the way I finish my career, but at the same time I’m not going to sit there and try to fight that to get it done. I want to go out there and have fun and feel good and make it be a positive thing instead of it be a battle physically.”
  • Erasmo Ramirez is facing a roster crunch, as the out-of-options righty doesn’t appear to have a clear path to either a rotation or bullpen role with the Mariners, Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune writes.  The M’s don’t want to lose Ramirez but Dutton hears from multiple rival officials that Seattle stands little chance of sneaking Ramirez through waivers and down to the minors.  The Mariners also don’t stand to get much of a return in a possible trade, as one rival exec rhetorically asks, “How much are you going to give up for a guy who is likely to be on waivers in a few weeks?”
  • The Giants will certainly monitor the market for right-handed hitting outfield bats in the wake of Hunter Pence’s injury, FOX Sports’ Jon Morosi writes, though the club won’t jump to make a move.
  • Using 2014 attendance figures and Forbes’ evaluations of franchise values, Fangraphs’ Craig Edwards calculates each team’s “expected payroll” to see how clubs spend in relation to their markets.  The Tigers outspend their market by the most while the Yankees rank last, though Edwards explains that ranking is slightly misleading since luxury tax payments aren’t factored into the equation.
  • Besides division rivals or intra-market rivals, Fangraphs’ Dave Cameron (writing for FOX Sports) looks at other pairs of teams that rarely seem to make trades with each other.
  • Injuries to several relievers could result in one or two young arms getting a shot in the Diamondbacks’ Opening Day bullpen, Zach Buchanan of the Arizona Republic writes.

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