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Minor MLB Transactions: 6/22/21

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The latest minor moves from around baseball:

  • The Diamondbacks announced that utilityman Ildemaro Vargas has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Reno. The 29-year-old has bounced around the league a bit in recent seasons, suiting up for Arizona, Minnesota, Pittsburgh and the Cubs. Through 55 MLB plate appearances in 2021, Vargas has hit just .137/.200/.176. As a player who has previously been outrighted in his career, Vargas has the right to elect free agency.
  • Marlins infielder Deven Marrero has apparently cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment, as he was in tonight’s lineup with Triple-A Jacksonville. Miami designated Marrero for assignment over the weekend. The former Red Sox utilityman only appeared in one MLB game with the Marlins before being removed from the 40-man roster, going hitless in three plate appearances.
  • The Phillies have signed utilityman Jake Elmore to a minor league contract, notes Chris Hilburn-Trenkle of Baseball America. He has been assigned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. The 34-year-old has appeared in parts of six MLB seasons, most recently with the 2019 Pirates. Elmore has a .215/.292/.275 mark in 527 major league plate appearances.
  • The Athletics recently released right-hander Tanner Anderson, Hilburn-Trenkle relays. Also a former Pirate, Anderson pitched in the big leagues between 2018-19. The 28-year-old has worked to a 6.15 ERA/4.88 SIERA over 33 2/3 MLB frames. He’d managed a 3.60 ERA in 15 innings with Triple-A Las Vegas this year, but Anderson only struck out three batters in that time while walking twelve.

White Sox Reportedly Discussing Eduardo Escobar Trade With D-backs

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6:20pm: Escobar, notably, is out of tonight’s lineup for the D-backs, though Lovullo called the injury a “slight” quadriceps strain and said Escobar is available off the bench (Twitter link via The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan).

12:13pm: The White Sox and Diamondbacks have held discussions about a trade that would send infielder Eduardo Escobar to the Windy City, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports (Twitter link).  It isn’t known if the two sides are deep in talks, or if this is exploratory on Chicago’s part as the Sox continue to look for second base help.

One immediate wrinkle is Escobar’s injury status, as he left yesterday’s game after four innings due to tightness in right quad, D’Backs manager Torey Lovullo told The Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro and other reporters.  Escobar was scheduled to undergo tests today, and Lovullo noted that the removal was “precautionary” in nature.

Assuming Escobar is healthy, he is a natural trade chip.  The D’Backs have the worst record in baseball and are mired in an unfathomable 17-game losing streak, so their focus has already moved to selling at the trade deadline.  Escobar is in the final season of a three-year, $21MM contract that pays him $7.5MM in 2021 (roughly $4.12MM is still owed for the remainder of the season).

The White Sox, meanwhile, suffered a big loss at second base when Nick Madrigal underwent season-ending hamstring surgery last week.  Danny Mendick has been filling in at the keystone since Madrigal was sidelined and utilityman Leury Garcia is also on hand, but installing a veteran like Escobar would more fully stabilize the position (especially since the Sox are also still dealing with multiple injury absences in the outfield).  Escobar has been more regularly used as a third baseman in Arizona, but he has logged plenty of time at second base over the years, including 30 games at the position this season alone.

A trade would represent something of a homecoming for the 32-year-old Escobar, who originally signed with the White Sox as an amateur free agent back in 2006 and then played his first 45 big league games in a Sox uniform.  Chicago dealt Escobar to the Twins as part of a deadline deal for Francisco Liriano in 2012, and Escobar was then a thorn in the side of his old team for years as he developed into a regular in Minnesota’s lineup.

After a rough 2020 season, Escobar has bounced back to be an exactly league-average hitter (100 wRC+, 100 OPS+) over 295 plate appearances this season, hitting .240/.288/.455 with 15 homers.  The power numbers have helped boost his overall production, as Escobar’s 6.4% walk rate is his lowest since 2016 and he isn’t making much hard contact.  The switch-hitter’s numbers against left-handed pitching have still been solid, but his production against right-handers has tailed off over the last two years.

Diamondbacks Place Carson Kelly On 10-Day IL With Fractured Wrist

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TODAY: Kelly has been placed on the 10-day injured list.  Varsho and infielder Josh VanMeter were called up from Triple-A to fill the spots left open by Kelly and right-hander Kevin Ginkel, who was optioned to Triple-A yesterday.

JUNE 19: Diamondbacks catcher Carson Kelly suffered a fractured right wrist after being hit by a pitch from the Dodgers’ Walker Buehler in tonight’s game.  Kelly was hit in the bottom of the second inning, and stuck it out for an inning before being replaced behind the plate by Stephen Vogt to begin the fourth.

Depending on the severity of the fracture, Kelly’s season could potentially be in jeopardy, and at the very least he is looking at a lengthy absence.  Kelly already missed time back in May with a toe fracture, though that resulted in only a 10-day minimum stint on the injured list.

It makes for yet another down note for Kelly and the Diamondbacks during what has become a nightmarish season in Arizona.  Kelly’s performance was one of the few bright spots, as he has a .260/.385/.460 slash line and eight home runs through 187 plate appearances.  It was a nice bounce-back showing after a lackluster 2020 season for Kelly, who was acquired from the Cardinals as part of the Paul Goldschmidt trade in December 2018.

Between his solid 2019 numbers and this year’s breakout, Kelly certainly looked to be living up to his billing as the Diamondbacks’ catcher of both the future and the present.  Arizona’s miserable season notwithstanding, it didn’t seem like Kelly (if healthy) was a realistic trade candidate, as GM Mike Hazen recently suggested that the D’Backs would look to settle upon an “anchor” group of core players as they reload and hope for better things in 2022.  Kelly would seem to fit that billing, as he is controlled through the 2024 season.

While Kelly is out of action, the D’Backs would get a chance to give top prospect Daulton Varsho more of a look behind the plate.  Varsho has only 56 games and 159 PA at the big league level over the last two seasons, with more of that playing time coming as an outfielder rather than as a catcher.  Varsho and Vogt could potentially split catching duties while Kelly is sidelined, with Varsho also playing the outfield on days when Vogt is starting.

Diamondbacks Sign Jake Faria, Designate Ildemaro Vargas

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The Diamondbacks announced the signing of right-hander Jake Faria.  Utilityman Ildemaro Vargas has been designated for assignment to open up a roster spot for Faria.

Faria had been pitching for the Angels’ Triple-A affiliate before he was released earlier this week.  He’ll now join a reeling D’Backs team that is looking for all the pitching help it can find, though Faria has only a 5.65 ERA over 36 2/3 innings with Triple-A Salt Lake City.  The righty does have a 28.05% strikeout rate, but Faria has been hurt by the long ball, with seven homers allowed over those 36 2/3 frames.

Home runs and walks became an increasingly big problem for Faria over 170 1/3 MLB innings with the Rays and Brewers from 2017-19, as he posted a 1.3 HR/9 and 10.4% walk rate to go along with a 4.54 ERA and 20.9% strikeout rate.  A pretty well-regarded arm during his way up the ladder in Tampa Bay’s farm system, the Brewers acquired Faria for Jesus Aguilar in July 2019 but Faria didn’t pitch well during the rest of that season with Milwaukee and he didn’t see any action in 2020.

Vargas has become a regular on the DFA wire, as this marks the fourth time in less than three months that the 29-year-old has been designated.  Vargas began his season with the Cubs, who DFA’ed him twice and then lost him on a waiver claim to the Pirates, and Pittsburgh then traded Vargas to Arizona at the beginning of June.  Vargas spent his first three-plus MLB seasons with the Diamondbacks before they designated him for assignment last August and the Twins claimed him away.

In the midst of this flurry of moves, Vargas has only hit .167/.211/.245 over 109 PA since the start of the 2020 season.  Known more for his versatility than his bat anyways, Vargas has played mostly second base and third base at the big league level but he has also seen some action at four other positions.

Diamondbacks Select Noe Ramirez, Designate Keury Mella

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The Diamondbacks announced they’ve selected the contract of righty reliever Noé Ramirez. To create active and 40-man roster space, fellow righty Keury Mella was designated for assignment.

Ramirez has been a member of three organizations this year. The longtime Angel was traded to the Reds as part of the Raisel Iglesias deal over the offseason. He struggled mightily in Spring Training, so Cincinnati released him before the regular season began to avoid committing to his entire $1.175MM arbitration salary. Ramirez quickly re-signed with the Angels on a minor league deal and Los Angeles added him to the big league roster in mid-May. Just five days later, the Angels designated Ramirez for assignment and passed him through waivers. He elected free agency and signed a minors pact with the D-Backs.

The 31-year-old didn’t find much success with Triple-A Reno. He was tagged for eight runs on as many hits (including three homers) and five walks in nine innings, although he did strike out twelve batters in that hitter-friendly environment. Before this year’s trials, Ramirez was a solid middle reliever, pitching to a 3.76 ERA/3.91 FIP from 2019-20.

Arizona just selected Mella to the MLB roster on Tuesday. He made two disastrous appearances in San Francisco this week, allowing six runs while recording just five outs. The 27-year-old has pitched 28 2/3 MLB innings over the past five seasons, compiling a 7.22 ERA/5.10 SIERA. Mella has already passed through waivers once this year and accepted an outright assignment to Reno, although he’ll again have the option to elect free agency if he goes unclaimed on the wire.

Diamondbacks Activate Zac Gallen From Injured List

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JUNE 17: As expected, Arizona reinstated Gallen from the IL this morning. Righty Humberto Castellanos was optioned to Triple-A Reno in a corresponding move.

JUNE 16: The Diamondbacks announced they’re planning to activate Zac Gallen from the injured list. He’ll start tomorrow afternoon’s game in San Francisco, his first MLB action in nearly six weeks.

Gallen went on the IL in mid-May with an ominous-sounding diagnosis: a minor sprain of the UCL in his throwing elbow. He wound missing a fairly notable amount of time, but the D-Backs are surely relieved it didn’t require any sort of surgical repair. Gallen looks like a potential cornerstone rotation piece for Arizona. Since the D-Backs acquired him from the Marlins for Jazz Chisholm Jr. at the 2019 trade deadline, he’s tossed 142 1/3 innings of 2.85 ERA/3.54 FIP ball with a strong 28.4% strikeout rate.

The 25-year-old has been limited to five starts this year, and the D-Backs have certainly felt his absence. Arizona starters have pitched to a disastrous 5.55 ERA, the second-worst mark in the league (the Pirates are at 5.57). Diamondbacks starters also rank near the bottom of the league in strikeout rate (20.4%), strikeout/walk rate differential (11.9 percentage points) and SIERA (4.55).

Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen Discusses Trade Deadline Outlook

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Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen addressed the team’s general plans for the July 30 trade deadline this morning with 98.7 FM Arizona Sports (h/t to Zach Buchanan of the Athletic). Unsurprisingly, he confirmed the 20-48 club has been fielding offers from contenders with the trade deadline coming up.

The Diamondbacks will almost certainly move some veteran players for younger talent in the coming weeks, but Hazen didn’t sound as if he felt the club needed to embark on a full rebuild. He pushed back against characterizing the organization’s approach to the deadline as akin to “open season” and reiterated his belief in the long-term potential of the club’s young, controllable position players. Hazen acknowledged that, given their standing at the bottom of the league, the D-Backs aren’t “in a position to say ’never’ to anything” but quickly added the front office is hoping to “anchor” around a group of core players moving forward.

Asdrúbal Cabrera and Eduardo Escobar look extremely likely to wind up elsewhere before the July 30 trade deadline. The same could be true of fellow impending free agents Stephen Vogt and Joakim Soria, although neither has been especially productive this season. Arizona has also reportedly taken offers on corner outfielder David Peralta, who is under contract through 2022.

Kole Calhoun, controllable via $9MM club option next season, is a plausible trade candidate if he continues to produce once he returns from the injured list. Starter Merrill Kelly is having a bit of a down year but he’s affordable enough (due the balance of a $4.25MM salary this season, with a $5.25MM club option for 2022) to draw some interest. The same is true of swingman Caleb Smith, controllable via arbitration through 2023.

Given Hazen’s comments, it seems more likely the Diamondbacks move those complimentary types rather than part with highly-performing, controllable players like Ketel Marte, Carson Kelly and Josh Rojas. Hazen wouldn’t definitively rule out a deal involving any of that trio (baseball operations leaders don’t tend to think in such absolutes) but his desire to “anchor” around a group of young, productive big leaguers suggests the D-Backs aren’t looking to tear the roster to the studs.

With the deadline approaching, Hazen told 98.7 FM the D-Backs expect to add veteran executive Allard Baird to their baseball operations department in the coming days. Baird spent the early portion of his career in Kansas City, where he ascended to general manager in 2000. He was let go after six seasons as Royals GM but quickly found a role in the Red Sox front office. Baird spent more than a decade in Boston, where he overlapped with Hazen and D-Backs assistant general manager Amiel Sawdaye. Most recently, Baird spent the past two seasons with the Mets, but he departed amidst the New York organization’s ownership and front office shakeup last winter.

Hazen took a physical leave of absence from the team last week to spend more time with his family while his wife Nicole battles brain cancer. He remains in consultation with the rest of the front office, with Sawdaye taking control over day-to-day baseball operations. Baird will help shoulder the workload as the club tries to bring back the best possible returns for some of their veteran players.

Diamondbacks Select Contract Of Keury Mella

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Righty reliever Keury Mella is returning to the Diamondbacks’ 40-man roster, according to The Athletic’s Zach Buchanan.  The club transferred Seth Frankoff to the 60-day IL to clear a 40-man spot, while Taylor Clarke hit the 10-day IL to create an active roster opening.  Incredibly, the D’Backs are vying for their first road win since April 25th tonight in San Francisco.

Mella, 27, has logged 27 career innings for the Reds and Diamondbacks.  In his 11 appearances at Triple-A Reno this year, he punched out 24.4% of batters and walked 9.0%.  Mella averaged 95.2 miles per hour last year in the bigs, a bit above the average ’21 reliever figure of 93.8.  Two years ago as a Reds farmhand, Mella was considered to be a 45-grade prospect by Baseball America.  The Reds had acquired Mella and Adam Duvall from the Giants in the 2015 trade deadline trade of Mike Leake.  At the time, Mella was thought to have a plus fastball without a “true offspeed weapon.”  Mella was deemed expendable back in February, as Arizona designated him for assignment and he passed through waivers unclaimed.

As you might expect from the worst team in baseball, the Diamondbacks’ bullpen has been pretty bad, with a 4.64 ERA.  But still better than three other NL teams!  Mella joins a D’Backs bullpen consisting of Stefan Crichton, Joakim Soria, Kevin Ginkel, Ryan Buchter, Humberto Castellanos, Joe Mantiply, Riley Smith, and possibly Corbin Martin at present.  Clarke joins relievers J.B. Bukauskas, Tyler Clippard, Chris Devenski on the IL, with Devenski done for the season due to Tommy John surgery.

Diamondbacks General Manager Mike Hazen To Take Physical Leave Of Absence

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The Diamondbacks announced that executive vice president and general manager Mike Hazen is taking a “physical leave of absence” from the team. Assistant GM Amiel Sawdaye will take over day-to-day baseball operations, with Hazen consulting regularly.

Sawdaye has been one of Hazen’s primary lieutenants throughout the duration of their tenures in Arizona. The pair worked together in the Red Sox front office, and Sawdaye followed Hazen to the desert less than two weeks after the latter was hired as Diamondbacks general manager. Sawdaye has long been viewed as a potential future GM, and he was among the finalists for the Angels job that went to Perry Minasian last winter.

Hazen’s wife Nicole has been battling brain cancer, notes Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. Hazen told reporters (including Bob Nightengale of USA Today) he didn’t feel he could devote the time required to lead the team’s trade deadline and draft preparation while attending to his family responsibilities. MLBTR sends our best wishes to the Hazen family.

Diamondbacks Part Ways With Hitting Coaches Darnell Coles And Eric Hinske

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5:05 pm: General manager Mike Hazen reiterated the organization’s faith in Lovullo, telling Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link) he “still (feels) like Torey is the right person to lead these guys and to right this ship and get us back to where we need to go.”

4:13 pm: The Diamondbacks announced this afternoon they’ve parted ways with hitting coach Darnell Coles and assistant hitting coach Eric Hinske. To replace them, the club has promoted Rick Short, who had been hitting coach with their Triple-A affiliate in Reno, and run production coordinator Drew Hedman. Short and Hedman will serve as co-hitting coaches.

Coles and Hinske were both hired during the 2018-19 offseason. In each of the two-plus seasons since, the D-Backs have run out a below-average offense. Obviously, it’s difficult to tell what extent the blame for that should fall on the coaching staff versus the players, but the organization evidently decided it was time to bring in a pair of new voices.

Given how disastrous this season has been, it’s not hard to see why the club is shaking things up. The Diamondbacks have the league’s worst record at 20-43, and they’re currently amidst a nineteen-game road losing streak, a mark that’s three games shy of an all-time record. The lineup isn’t the only reason for that level of futility, but it hasn’t been a strength either. Diamondbacks hitters have a cumulative .238/.312/.394 slash line, excluding pitchers. The resulting 94 wRC+ places them just twenty-second among the league’s thirty clubs in park-adjusted offense.

Short, who appeared in eleven MLB games as a player with the 2005 Nationals, has spent the past decade in the Arizona organization as a scout and minor league coach. Hedman, who had previously coached at the amateur level, was hired by the D-Backs as a scout in 2018. He was promoted to run production coordinator the following year. David Laurila of FanGraphs examined Hedman’s rapid rise last April.

The firing of Coles and Hinske will only heighten speculation about the future of manager Torey Lovullo. The fifth-year skipper is in the final year of his current contract, and the team’s dreadful performance over the past two seasons has led some fans to suggest Lovullo’s job might be in jeopardy. The front office has continued to stick by him, with CEO Derrick Hall telling reporters last month Lovullo was “not the problem” with the organization (via Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic). The team’s tailspin has only intensified since then, however.

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