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Reds To Sign Jair Jurrjens

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4:30pm: Jurrjens would earn a $800K annual rate should he crack the big league roster, tweets Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com.

7:38am: The Reds have agreed to to a minor league contract with free agent right-hander Jair Jurrjens, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (on Twitter). The Scott Boras client was said recently to be eyeing a comeback after undergoing knee surgery last fall.

It’s been a rapid decline for Jurrjens, who is still just 28 years of age. The Curacao native was dominant for the Braves in 2011, posting a 2.38 ERA through his first 19 starts of the season. He suffered a knee injury shortly thereafter and would make only four more starts in 2011, allowing 16 runs in 23 1/3 innings.

It’s been downhill for Jurrjens since that time, as he’s posted a 6.63 ERA in 55 2/3 innings since and has undergone multiple knee surgeries as he attempts to revive his once-promising career. While his brilliant 2011 campaign was likely aided by a deflated batting average on balls in play (.267) and an elevated strand rate (81 percent), he still had the makings of a solid big league starting pitcher in his first four seasons with Atlanta.

Jurrjens spent much of last season in Triple-A with the Orioles and Tigers (the organization which originally signed him), pitching to a 4.57 ERA with 5.1 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 in 134 innings. He’ll serve as additional rotation depth for the Reds, who also have Chien-Ming Wang in their Triple-A rotation. Jeff Francis also occupied a role with that team until he was claimed off waivers by the Athletics this past weekend. Cincinnati has been without Mat Latos all season, but Alfredo Simon has surprisingly stepped up and filled that role masterfully, pitching to a 2.45 ERA in 51 1/3 innings out of the rotation.

NL West Links: Dodgers, La Russa, Goebbert

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The Diamondbacks and Dodgers are both two of baseball’s biggest disappointments thus far, Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan writes, though the Dodgers show up twice on Passan’s list of the season’s biggest underachievers.  Passan criticizes the Dodgers both for their middling play and for a broadcasting dispute between Time Warner Cable and DirecTV that has left Dodger games available in only 30 percent of homes in the greater L.A. area.

Here’s the latest from around the NL West…

  • Reds GM Walt Jocketty and Tigers assistant GM Al Avila were both mentioned to FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal as names to consider for the Diamondbacks’ general manager job should Tony La Russa fire current GM Kevin Towers.  La Russa has ties to both Jocketty and Avila, though Rosenthal notes that La Russa hasn’t discussed possible GM replacements with D’Backs upper management, plus there’s still a chance Towers could be retained.
  • Though Kirk Gibson is well-liked and respected throughout baseball, there is a feeling amongst some scouts and some within the D’Backs organization that his in-game moves and handling of pitchers is hurting the team.  Firing Gibson might not be easy for La Russa, however, since there isn’t any obvious candidate who could step in immediately.  Rosenthal believes La Russa could talk to Cardinals third base coach Jose Oquendo but isn’t likely to do so in the middle of the Cards’ season.
  • Newly-acquired Padres outfielder Jake Goebbert talks to MLB.com’s Corey Brock about the uncertainty that a player goes through when he is the subject of an impending trade, like how the Goebbert-for-Kyle Blanks swap was rumored for a few days before the deal was finalized.  Goebbert notes to Brock that he wasn’t aware he was being targeted in any trades until he read his name right here on MLBTR last week.

Athletics Claim Jeff Francis Off Waivers From Reds

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3:39pm: Savery will be optioned to Triple-A rather than simply being placed on paternity leave, tweets Slusser, with the idea of utilizing Francis as a long man.

2:47pm: The Athletics have claimed lefty Jeff Francis off waivers from the Reds, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter links). Francis had been designated for assignment on Friday.

Francis, 33, got just one start with Cincinnati before he hit the wire, allowing three earned over five innings. He had been working effectively at Triple-A, tossing 48 2/3 frames with a 3.33 ERA, supported by a solid 8.3 K/9 against 2.2 BB/9.

As Slusser explains, the A’s will place recently-promoted southpaw Joe Savery on paternity leave. Francis will take his place on the active roster, though the club’s plans from that point forward remain unclear.

Minor Moves: Nanita, Wilson, Marinez, Robertson, Meek

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Today’s minor moves …

  • The Blue Jays have loaned veteran minor-leaguer Ricardo Nanita to Los Tigres de Quintana Roo of the Mexican League, according to the International League transactions page. The 32-year-old outfielder has seen time at or above the Double-A level in every season since 2006, but has yet to crack the bigs in spite of a .315/.364/.463 line through 1,133 plate appearances at Triple-A. Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star profiled Nanita and his dreams of making the Show this spring, but he received only 17 opportunities to swing the bat this year for Buffalo.
  • Outfielder Mike Wilson has been released by the Reds, according to the International League transactions page. Wilson was slashing .205/.293/.364 in 99 plate appearances at Triple-A. The 30-year-old, who received a brief call-up in 2011 with the Mariners, has (like Nanita) spent parts of six seasons at the highest level of the minors.
  • Jhan Marinez, a 25-year-old righty, was released by the Tigers (also via the International League transactions page). Marinez, who has tossed 5 1/3 MLB innings in two brief stints, had worked to a disappointing 8.84 ERA in 18 1/3 frames at Triple-A Toledo, racking up 21 strikeouts but also 21 free passes on the year.
  • The Tigers have granted Nate Robertson his release, a team official told James Schmehl of MLive.com.   Robertson signed a minor league deal with Detroit a little over two months ago. Even though he was a mainstay in the Tigers’ rotation from 2004-2008, Robertson has been out of the major leagues since 2010. There was some hope that the 36-year-old, who has reinvented himself as a sidearming reliever, could fill the second lefty role in the Tigers’ pen.  However, he struggled with command for much of the season in Triple-A Toledo.
  • The Orioles announced that right-hander Evan Meek has cleared optional waivers and been optioned to Triple-A Norfolk.  Meek was designated off of the 25-man roster yesterday but kept on the 40-man, but he could not be sent down without passing through revocable optional waivers first.  Through 11 2/3 big league innings, he has allowed nine earned runs and struck out nine against six free passes. Over 184 1/3 career innings, most of them with the Pirates, Meek has a 3.56 ERA with 7.5 K/9 against 4.7 BB/9.

Jeff Todd contributed to this post.

Reds Designate Jeff Francis For Assignment

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The Reds have designated lefty Jeff Francis for assignment, according to the MLB transactions page. Francis, 33, has seen action in ten MLB campaigns.

Francis was called up to start yesterday for Cincinnati and gave up three earned runs through five innings. He had been signed to a minor league deal over the offseason, and was successful at Triple-A. In eight starts, Francis logged 48 2/3 innings of 3.33 ERA ball with 8.3 K/9 against 2.2 BB/9. Over 1,254 career big league frames, most of them as a starter for the Rockies, Francis has a lifetime 4.94 ERA with 6.0 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9.

Reds Notes: Votto, Cueto, Marquis

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While most of the major injuries we’ve seen this season have come on the pitching front, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports (via Twitter) that there could be another significant injury to a hitter. Sources tell Rosenthal that Joey Votto did not make the current road trip with the Reds and is staying back to undergo an MRI on the same knee that he had surgically repaired in 2012. Cincinnati has already lost roughly a month of Jay Bruce as well as two months of Mat Latos, and an extended absence for Votto is the last thing they need to see as they sit seven games back in the NL Central. However, a DL stint does appear to be likely, according to Rosenthal. Here are some more Reds-related items…

  • Jeff Sullivan is up in the latest edition of Fangraphs on FOX, and within it, he breaks down the changes that Reds ace Johnny Cueto has made to his two-strike approach. The changes, which have resulted in Cueto more than tripling his rate of called third strikes, have vaulted Cueto into the elite ranks of Major League pitchers and made him the clear favorite for the NL Cy Young Award, writes Sullivan.
  • Cueto knows that he’s dominating this season and told Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News that he considers himself the best pitcher in baseball right now. Said Cueto (through a translator): “I would say, yes, definitely yes. My numbers have to talk for me. Every time I go on the mound I do my job. And I do my job to get the best numbers.” Cueto has a no-brainer $10MM club option this offseason and would then hit the open market entering his age-30 season in 2016. If he can continue on this trajectory, suffice it to say that he’ll be one of the wealthiest players in baseball history.
  • Former Major Leaguer Jose Cruz Jr. tweeted earlier this week that he saw right-hander Jason Marquis throw a bullpen session for the Reds and Padres (hat tip: Chris Cotillo). Marquis was throwing 88-90 mph, per Cruz, which is impressive given that Marquis is just nine and a half months removed from Tommy John surgery on July 30 of last year. It was reported last September that Marquis didn’t plan to retire after his Tommy John surgery and could sign a minor league deal come April or May.

Quick Hits: Jocketty, Uehara, Kolek, Mets

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The Reds’ quiet offseason included few depth signings, and now that lack of roster depth is being tested given the number of key players currently on the team’s disabled list.  Cincinnati GM Walt Jocketty tells Fangraphs’ David Laurila that “there weren’t a lot of moves to make” and warned against too much roster turnover, though finances also played a part in the Reds’ uneventful winter.  “It wasn’t just [will we have money later], it was also ‘Do we have enough money now?,’ Jockett said.  “We’d have loved to have [Shin-Soo] Choo back, but we couldn’t afford him. And there really wasn’t anything else we felt we could do — that we felt we could financially do. Once your club is set, it’s pretty hard to make changes.”

Here are some more items from around baseball…

  • Also from Laurila’s piece, Red Sox closer Koji Uehara wasn’t sure he was ready to pitch in North America when he was first eligible at age 24, though he would’ve liked to have arrived sooner than his age-34 season.  The issue for Uehara was that his Japanese club, the Yomiuri Giants, didn’t post their players and instead required them to fulfill the entirety of their contacts.
  • Right-hander Tyler Kolek regularly hits the 100-mph plateau and “is the hardest-throwing high schooler of the draft era,” scouts tells Baseball America’s John Manuel.  Kolek has been widely predicted to be at least a top-three selection in this year’s amateur draft.
  • As pitchers like Kolek are throwing faster and harder at increasingly young ages, evaluating these young arms has become “a convergence of fascination and fear,” for scouts, MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince writes.  Teams are as interested in ever with hard-throwers, yet are also concerned with the injury risk attached with regularly throwing at such high velocities.
  • Mets fans are losing patience with the team’s rebuilding plan and Sandy Alderson’s front office has seemed either unwilling or unable to spend to make the Amazins more competitive, ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin opines.  Even the low-cost moves that were supposed to be Alderson’s forte have backfired, Rubin notes in regards to the club’s struggling bullpen.
  • Baseball America’s Ben Badler (BA subscription required) profiles five international prospects who have drawn the attention of the Yankees and Astros in the lead-up to the July 2 deadline.  New York has been linked to catcher Miguel Flames, shortstop Diego Castillo and outfielder Jonathan Amundaray, while Houston is interested in outfielder Ronny Rafael and shortstop Miguel Angel Sierra.
  • Should the Tigers use Robbie Ray as a much-needed southpaw reliever or send him back to the minors to get regular work as a starter?  Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press argues the former point while MLive.com’s Chris Iott argues the latter.
  • The revamped draft and free agent rules haven’t helped parity or benefited smaller-market teams, Peter Gammons writes for GammonsDaily.com.  Tying the draft directly to the free agent compensation system (in regards to qualifying offers) has created flaws in both areas, Gammons argues, and the real purpose of the new rules was “to lessen the power of agents and limit the money paid to amateur prospects.”

Central Notes: Cardinals, Chapman, Moustakas

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The Pirates and Cardinals faced off tonight on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, but the matchup meant something different for each team, MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch writes. It was the first time ESPN had hosted the broadcast in Pittsburgh in 1996, and for Pirates manager Clint Hurdle, appearing on the show demonstrates that the Pirates are relevant once again. Cardinals manager Mike Matheny, though, doesn’t like playing on Sunday nights, especially given the travel headaches it causes when playing on the road. “I don’t think it’s taken into consideration at all that it makes it harder for us,” Matheny says. “You get in at four o’clock in the morning and … if they tell you that playing the next day that’s not going to affect you, I’d say they’re wrong.” Here are more notes from the Central divisions.

  • Reds closer Aroldis Chapman made his first appearance of the season on Sunday after missing the first six weeks after being struck in the face with a line drive in spring training, and he appears he hasn’t missed a beat. Chapman threw 15 fastballs of at least 100 MPH and topped out at 102 MPH while striking out three batters and collecting his first save against the Rockies.
  • The Royals are considering demoting infielder Mike Moustakas as they open roster space for a reliever, Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star tweets. It’s been a disappointing season for Moustakas, who’s hitting just .147/.215/.321. The 2007 second-overall pick has struggled since a strong season in 2012 and has been below replacement level in 2014, even though he’s a skilled defensive third baseman.

Minor Moves: Hector Ambriz Accepts Outright

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Here are Sunday’s minor moves from around MLB:

  • The Reds have released pitcher Nick Schmidt, tweets Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish. The 28-year-old lefty pitched 14 1/3 innings for Triple-A Louisville, posting a 7.53 ERA with 11 strikeouts and ten walks. He had previously pitched in the Padres and Rockies systems.
  • The Indians have released pitcher Brett Brach, who had been at Triple-A Columbus, Cotillo tweets. Brach, the brother of Orioles pitcher Brad Brach, was a 10th-round pick in 2009. He spent most of the 2013 season with Double-A Akron.
  • Cotillo also notes that the Mariners have released pitcher Jonathan Arias, who had made eight relief appearances for Triple-A Tacoma. He had a 9.82 ERA there, striking out ten batters and walking seven in 14 2/3 innings. Arias, 26, had posted very good strikeout numbers at several previous minor-league stops, however.
  • Right-hander Hector Ambriz has accepted his outright assignment to Triple-A by the Padres, tweets MLBDailyDish.com’s Chris Cotillo. Ambriz, who was designated for assignment Thursday, could have refused the assignment and elected free agency.
  • Infielder Josh Wilson has cleared waivers, tweets Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Wilson, who was designated for assignment by the Rangers Thursday, now has 72 hours to accept an outright assignment or elect free agency.
  • Catcher George Kottaras has cleared waivers, tweets CBSSports.com’s Jon Heyman. Kottaras was designated for assignment by the Indians Tuesday and now has 72 hours to accept an outright assignment or elect free agency. The 30-year-old saw only four plate appearances during his brief stint with the Indians, but he was productive smashing a pair of solo home runs and drawing one walk. 
  • There are four players currently in DFA limbo, per MLBTR’s DFA Tracker: Buddy Boshers (Angels), Maikel Cleto, (White Sox), Carlos Marmol (Marlins), and Chris Getz (Blue Jays).

Charlie Wilmoth contributed to this post.

Injury Notes: Tommy John Surgeries, Chapman, Davis

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This year more than ever, it seems an enormous number of pitchers have suffered injuries that required Tommy John surgery. That includes big-leaguers like Matt Moore, Kris Medlen, Brandon Beachy, Patrick Corbin, A.J. Griffin and Jarrod Parker, along with potential first-round picks in Jeff Hoffman and Erick Fedde. But as Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal notes, the prognosis for pitchers who have Tommy John surgeries is now very good, and teams are much more cautious about diagnosing significant problems than they used to be. MacPherson quotes a number of former big-league pitchers whose experiences would seem wildly out of place today. “Everybody kept thinking, ’If I had surgery, it might be the end of my career, so I’m going to pitch until it blows, and then that’s the end of my career,’” says former Orioles, Red Sox, Royals and Brewers hurler Mike Boddicker, who pitched in the big leagues until 1993. “It used to be that you had some inflammation — tendinitis. That was the big thing. You had tendinitis. You look some anti-inflammatories, and you’d rest a little bit, and then you’d keep going.” Here are more notes from around the big leagues.

  • Aroldis Chapman’s return after a stay on the disabled list with a head injury allows the Reds plenty of flexibility in their bullpen, writes Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. Chapman’s addition bumps Jonathan Broxton back to a setup role. The Reds have been fortunate in that their starters have worked deep into games, meaning that their bullpen likely won’t be overworked going forward. “There’s just not a lot of opportunities for these guys to come in the fifth or sixth and, sometimes, the seventh inning,” says manager Bryan Price. “We’ve spent a lot of time closing a game with one to two innings of bullpen work.”
  • Chris Davis made an appearance for Double-A Bowie on Saturday to rehab his injured oblique, and he feels he’s ready to return to the Orioles, MASNsports.com’s Steve Melewski tweets. Davis last appeared in a game for the Orioles on April 25, and Steve Pearce has largely handled first-base duties since then.
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