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Indians Sign David Lough

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The Indians have signed outfielder David Lough to a minor-league deal, per a club announcement. He’ll report to Triple-A Columbus.

Lough, 31, joined the Tigers on a minors deal over the winter but failed to crack the Opening Day roster. He had struggled to a .169/.210/.203 batting line over 63 Triple-A plate appearances, leading to his release.

While he has never been an impactful hitter, the southpaw-swinging Lough has shown more in the past. In over two thousand trips to the plate at the highest level of the minors, he has slashed .287/.338/.427 with 34 home runs.

Seeing action over each of the past five MLB campaigns, Lough hasn’t quite produced enough with the bat to hold down a steady job. All told, he owns a .254/.300/.371 batting line with 13 long balls through 820 big league plate appearances. But he has typically graded out as a plus defender in the corners and has also seen fairly frequent action in center, making him a flexible option.

For the Indians, Lough represents a depth piece as the club continues to develop its outfield mix. Lonnie Chisenhall and Michael Brantley are both hitting well, but the rest of the group is in some flux. Top prospect Bradley Zimmer has shown talent through six games, but he’s also striking out at a prodigious (42.1%) rate. Daniel Robertson is currently up with three other outfielders — Abraham Almonte, Brandon Guyer, and Austin Jackson — shelved on the 10-day DL.

Minor MLB Transactions: 5/22/17

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Here are Monday’s minor moves from around the league…

  • Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that right-hander Carlos Frias has accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Columbus after clearing waivers (Twitter link). The Indians designated the longtime Dodgers reliever for assignment over the weekend. Frias, 27, has a 4.50 ERA with 5.9 K/9, 2.7 BB/9 and a 53.7 percent ground-ball rate in 114 Major League innings spread across parts of three seasons. He’s struggled in Triple-A this year, however, surrendering 17 earned runs on 20 hits and nine walks with eight strikeouts in 17 innings.

Earlier Moves

  • The Astros will select the contract of right-hander Jordan Jankowski from Triple-A Fresno today, reports Brian McTaggart of MLB.com (Twitter link). He’s not on the 40-man roster, meaning the team will need to make another move to accommodate him. Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle reports that Jankowski will replace lefty Ashur Tolliver on the active roster, though Tolliver has minor league options remaining, so he needn’t be designated for assignment and can rather be optioned. Houston selected Jankowski in the 34th round of the 2008 draft, but he elected to attend college at Catawba College, in Salirbury, N.C. Four years later, the Astros again selected Jankowski — once again in the 34th round. The 28-year-old owns a pristine 1.42 ERA with a 22-to-9 K/BB ratio in 19 innings this season in Triple-A.

Minor MLB Transactions: 5/21/17

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Sunday’s minor moves from around baseball:

  • Indians right-hander Carlos Frias cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A, per an announcement from the club. Frias, whom Cleveland designated for assignment Tuesday, has worked exclusively at the Triple-A level this year and posted a 9.00 ERA, 4.24 K/9 and 4.76 BB/9 in 17 innings.
  • The Mariners have signed outfielder Keury De La Cruz to a minor league deal. The 25-year-old played in the independent American Association last season after spending 2009-15 with the Red Sox organization. De La Cruz, whom Baseball America ranked as the Red Sox’s 25th-best prospect after the 2012 season, is a career .270/.318/.430 hitter with 58 home runs and 78 stolen bases (and 50 caught stealings) in 2,648 minor league plate appearances.

Earlier moves:

  • The Marlins announced that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Vance Worley, who will start their game against the Dodgers on Sunday. Worley hadn’t cracked the majors this year until now, having spent the first month-plus at Triple-A after inking a minor league deal in early April. The 29-year-old Worley hasn’t been great at that level, with a 4.43 ERA, 4.43 K/9 and 2.22 BB/9 in 44 2/3 innings. The well-traveled swingman has prevented runs at a respectable clip in the majors, though, evidenced by a 3.75 ERA over 595 1/3 career frames.
  • The Orioles have selected infielder Paul Janish’s contract from Triple-A, per a team announcement. He’ll fill in for reserve infielder Ryan Flaherty, who went on the disabled list with a right shoulder strain. The defensively adept Janish is in his third season in the Orioles organization, but he has collected just 28 plate appearances with the O’s to this point. While Janish got off to a .255/.364/.378 start this season in 118 PAs with Norfolk prior to his promotion, he’s only a .216/.284/.289 hitter in 1,277 major league trips to the plate.
  • The Royals have released left-hander Kyle Bartsch, tweets Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com. This is the second time Kansas City has parted with Bartsch, whom it chose in the seventh round of the 2013 draft and then traded to San Diego for outfielder Reymond Fuentes a year later. The Padres released Bartsch last season, and he ended up back with the Royals and pitched to a microscopic .94 ERA (with 7.22 K/9 and 1.88 BB/9) in 28 2/3 Double-A innings. The 26-year-old has not pitched this season, however.

Injury Notes: Price, Haniger, Kluber, Doolittle, Axford, Ramos, Jones, Ceciliani

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Here’s the latest on some injury situations from around the game:

  • Red Sox lefty David Price only made it through two innings in his rehab outing tonight, as David Ricci of the Boston Globe reports. On the positive side, Price says that he felt that he was in good physical form during and after the outing. Still, it’s unclear what the next step will be for the valuable southpaw, who has yet to pitch this year in the majors while working through an elbow injury. Manager John Farrell said he’ll speak with Price before a course is determined, as the Globe’s Pete Abraham tweets.
  • Meanwhile, the Mariners decided to hold off on starting the rehab assignment of outfielder Mitch Haniger after he felt some mild soreness in his oblique, Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune reports. At this point, the hope is that it won’t cause a significant delay. Haniger, 26, is no doubt chomping at the bit to get back to the big leagues after his outstanding start to the year. Over 95 plate appearances, he carries a .342/.447/.608 batting line with four home runs.
  • The Indians will send righty Corey Kluber out for a 35-pitch sim game tomorrow, per Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer (via Twitter). Cleveland’s staff ace will test out his balky lower back and hopefully begin moving back toward the majors. Kluber currently owns an uncharacteristic 5.06 ERA through six outings, though he still carries 9.9 K/9 against 3.1 BB/9.
  • Athletics reliever Sean Doolittle is set to begin throwing from flat ground over the weekend, Joe Stiglich of NBC Sports California was among those to tweet. He could be back on the bump by the middle of next week — though obviously it will still be a while longer before he’s back in the majors. The southpaw has dealt with a shoulder issue that is of added concern given his history, though the hope remains that he has avoided a significant injury this time around. Meanwhile, righty John Axford is set to return from his own shoulder-related DL stint in the next two days, Stiglich also adds on Twitter.
  • Backstop Wilson Ramos is making real progress in his recovery from ACL surgery, Rays manager Kevin Cash said in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM (via Jim Bowden, on Twitter). He is already able to get in a crouch in bullpen sessions and has been taking batting practice, which certainly seems to suggest it may not be long until he begins a rehab assignment.
  • The White Sox are encouraged by the early pen sessions turned in by currently DL’ed setup man Nate Jones, as Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com writes. He might only need one or two more controlled sessions before facing hitters in some fashion — either in a sim game or at the start of a rehab assignment. Jones is dealing with a case of elbow neuritis, but could turn into a significant trade piece this summer if he’s able to pick up where he left off upon his return.
  • Blue Jays outfielder Darrell Ceciliani will miss about two or three weeks with a shoulder strain, manager John Gibbons told reporters including Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith (Twitter link). Ceciliani was injured in unusual fashion, as he tweaked his shoulder while driving a ball out of the park. The 26-year-old had only just returned to the majors before going down, receiving the call despite a rough start to his season at Triple-A.

Rays Acquire Michael Martinez, Place Brad Miller On Disabled List

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The Rays have acquired infielder/outfielder Michael Martinez from the Indians in exchange for cash or a player to be named later and placed fellow infielder Brad Miller on the 10-day disabled list due to a left abdominal strain. In order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Martinez, Tampa Bay transferred Xavier Cedeno to the 60-day disabled list.

Martinez, 34, was designated for assignment by the Indians recently after collecting four hits and a pair of walks in 15 plate appearances this season. The versatile veteran can play all over the infield and outfield, though he batted just .238/.267/.307 last season and is a lifetime .200/.246/.270 hitter in the Majors (592 plate appearances). Miller has been the team’s primary second baseman this season, but Martinez can now step in and share time at that position with rookie Daniel Robertson.

AL Central Notes: Moncada, JDM, Royals, Almonte, Ervin

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White Sox fans hoping to see Yoan Moncada join the Major League club will definitely be waiting a bit longer, as Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago reports that the top prospect is expected to land on the minor league 7-day disabled list tomorrow (Twitter link). Moncada has been playing through a sore left thumb, and while an MRI didn’t reveal any serious injury, it’s been nagging him enough that the team has decided it’s best to get him some rest. Soon to turn 22, Moncada got off to a ridiculous start to the 2017 season, hitting .352/.427/.565 through his first 27 games (124 plate appearances). His bat has slowed mightily over the last week, though, as he’s managed just a .258/.303/.290 line through his seven most recent games.

Elsewhere in the AL Central…

  • Free-agent-to-be J.D. Martinez told reporters today that he’d love to remain in Detroit, but it’s “highly doubtful” that there’ll be any contract negotiations during the season (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Jordan Horrobin). Detroit could always look to re-sign Martinez this offseason, though that would run counter to GM Al Avila’s stated goal of lowering the team’s long-term payroll outlook. Martinez has burst back into the Tigers’ lineup with an outrageous four-game stretch, as he’s already blasted four homers and collected hits in six of his 12 at-bats while also drawing five walks. Detroit is two games back from the division lead and Martinez doesn’t figure to be a trade chip if they remain that close to a potential division title. But, if the team begins to slip, he’ll be an interesting player to monitor as the non-waiver deadline approaches.
  • Royals righty Ian Kennedy is showing signs of improvement in his injured right hamstring, as Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star reports. The 32-year-old could return by this coming weekend, per manager Ned Yost. That would rate as a welcome development for the scuffling Royals, who have received six solid outings from Kennedy thus far. He has held opposing batters to just 23 hits and currently carries a 3.03 ERA with 7.8 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9. If Kennedy can pick up where he left off, he’ll set up some interesting scenarios. Kansas City could explore trading him this summer if the team can’t turn things around. And then there’s the question of Kennedy’s contract, which allows him to opt out of the three years and $49MM that remains (in favor of a $6MM buyout) after the season.
  • While many are beginning to wonder whether the Royals will engineer a tear-down of the current MLB roster this summer, GM Dayton Moore says he’s not yet entertaining that possibility, as Dodd further reports. There’s no rush in making any decisions, Moore emphasized, noting that trades can come together quickly “if you have two willing partners.” While the club is still six games under .500, moreover, it has performed better of late and remains within reach of the front of a tightly-bunched pack in the AL Central. Moore drew an interesting analogy to the 2015 Tigers in explaining why he sees little reason to contemplate a summer sale effort. While that organization seemed prepared to hold at the deadline, he notes, “all of a sudden, some things changed, and Dave Dombrowski says he’s going to trade David Price, and the deal comes together very quickly.”
  • The Indians have some added clarity on the timeline for injured outfielder Abraham Almonte, as MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian reports. The team anticipates that he’ll be down for three to five weeks with what has been diagnosed as a sprained right biceps tendon. While the team is down a few outfielders, that has opened the door to top prospect Bradley Zimmer. Though Zimmer went down on strikeouts three times in his debut yesterday, he has already slashed a double today for his first MLB hit and seems to have an opportunity to lay claim to a regular job.
  • Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey spoke to FanRag’s John Perrotto about the temptation to trade right-hander Ervin Santana this offseason but noted that the team ultimately came to the conclusion that it was best to hang onto the veteran righty. “We felt it was really important to have that anchor for the rotation,” Falvey tells Perrotto. “You need that pitcher who you can count on to give you a good outing and pitch deep into games almost every time out. We felt we had that Ervin and whatever we might get back in a trade wouldn’t equal the value of what he brings to us.” The decision looks wise in hindsight, Perrotto adds, now that Minnesota has gotten off to a strong start thanks largely to Santana’s success. And of course, if Minnesota cannot sustain its division-leading pace, then Santana, who is guaranteed $24.6MM through the end of the 2018 season and has a 2019 option, could still be an appealing trade piece. Through 54 innings this year, Santana owns a 1.50 ERA with 6.8 K/9, 3.5 BB/9 and a 44.9 percent ground-ball rate.

Indians Promote Bradley Zimmer, Designate Carlos Frias

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The Indians have selected the contract of top outfield prospect Bradley Zimmer, per a club announcement. To create 40-man roster space, the team designated righty Carlos Frias.

Cleveland also announced a few other corresponding moves. Righty Shawn Armstrong was recalled, as well, creating a need for two active roster spots. Those were cleared by placing outfielder Abraham Almonte on the 10-day DL and optioning utilityman Yandy Diaz.

[Related: Updated Cleveland Indians depth chart]

Zimmer, now 24, has been seen as a key future piece for the Indians ever since he was taken with the 21st overall pick of the draft back in 2014. (He spoke with MLBTR’s Steve Adams earlier that year.) He has been a consensus top-100 prospect entering each of the past two seasons, though he fell in some rankings due to a so-so 2016 campaign. In advance of the current campaign, MLB.com slotted Zimmer 22nd, Fangraphs had him at #45, Baseball America ranked him 62nd (now up to 54th in their updated list), and Baseball Prospectus had him at 80th. ESPN.com’s Keith Law dropped Zimmer out of his own top-100.

Bradley Zimmer | Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The reasons for concern were rather clear. While Zimmer has the tools — raw power, good speed, and a quality glove that plays up the middle — he hadn’t yet put it all together. In 557 plate appearances in the upper minors last season, he slashed .250/.365/.425 with 15 home runs and 38 steals. But the bulk of the damage came at Double-A; over his 150 trips to the plate at the highest level of the minors, Zimmer went down on strikes 37.3% of the time. The left-handed hitter also turned in a rough overall .179/.343/.250 batting line against left-handed pitching.

As MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian wrote this spring, Zimmer has worked hard to upgrade his swing mechanics. And that seems to be paying dividends. He hit well in the Arizona Fall League and has been clicking thus far at Triple-A, with a .294/.371/.532 slash. The swing-and-miss will likely always be a part of his game — Zimmer currently carries a 29.9% strikeout rate on the year — but he’s showing an ability to make more and better contact thus far. He has also reversed his results against southpaws — albeit in quite a small sample. Coupled with a typically selective approach, and some untapped power potential, there’s reason to hope that Zimmer could blossom into a high-end major league piece.

The move comes with potential contract implications. Zimmer will have the opportunity to accumulate as many as 138 days of MLB service this year, so long as he can hold onto an active roster spot the rest of the way. If he can stick in the majors from here on out, then, he’d have a solid chance of qualifying for an addition year of arbitration after the conclusion of the 2019 season. The cutoff for Super Two status has ranged between 2.122 and 2.146 years of service over the past eight years, landing at 2.131 last season. Regardless, the Indians will control him through at least 2023.

That all depends upon Cleveland’s intentions — as well as Zimmer’s performance. While this could constitute only a brief preview, the fact that the Indians moved him onto the 40-man roster suggests the team intends to rely on him for more than a temporary patch. So long as Zimmer is up for any extended period, it seems likely he’ll see fairly regular action — meaning he could have a chance to play himself into a permanent role for the defending American League champs.

To add Zimmer meant clearing space on the roster, so the Indians elected to bump Frias, who was acquired over the winter. The 27-year-old had struggled through 17 frames at Triple-A this year, allowing 17 earned runs while recording just eight strikeouts to go with nine walks. Over three years of action with the Dodgers at the major league level, splitting his time between starting and relieving, he has worked to a 4.50 ERA in 114 frames.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

AL Central Notes: Infante, White Sox, Jimenez, AJax

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It has been a long and winding path back to the big leagues for White Sox righty Gregory Infante, as Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago writes. After briefly making his MLB debut at 22 years of age, the now-29-year-old had bounced around the upper minors waiting for another shot. That finally came after Infante threw 13 dominant innings at Triple-A Charlotte to open the current season, earning him a ticket back to the majors. “I am very happy and glad to get this opportunity,” Infante said. “The last seven years were tough years, but I also worked a lot in the last seven to get to this point because this is where you want to be as a player.”

  • That White Sox bullpen of which Infante is now a member figures to draw plenty of attention over the coming months. With a variety of interesting arms — closer David Robertson, injured setup man Nate Jones, and suddenly interesting righties Tommy Kahnle and Anthony Swarzak — on hand, the rebuilding organization could be in quite a nice selling position at the deadline. In the meantime, manager Rick Renteria tells Hayes, the organization plans to carry eight relievers — helping to spread the burden in the pen and alleviate any innings shortages from the rotation.
  • Tigers reliever Joe Jimenez is expected to miss about a month with a back injury, writes John Wagner of the Toledo Blade. Jimenez, 22, has been working at Triple-A after a rough debut in the majors. Since his demotion, Jimenez has continued the dominant path he charted over the preceding four seasons, racking up 13 strikeouts against four hits and two walks over 6 1/3 scoreless innings. Had that continued, he may well have been positioned to return to the bigs in relatively short order. Instead, he’ll first have to rehab the injury.
  • Indians outfielder Austin Jackson appears to be progressing from his toe injury, as Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reports on Twitter. The veteran is with the club today, participating in agility drills and baserunning work. It’s not clear whether he’ll require a brief rehab stint once he’s back to health, but presumably he’ll be ready for MLB duty in relatively short order once his toe is healed.

Injury Notes: Giants, Red Sox, Indians, Jays, Jankowski

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The Giants announced tonight that right fielder Hunter Pence has been placed on the 10-day disabled list due to a left hamstring strain. Fellow outfielder Mac Williamson is up from Triple-A Sacramento to take Pence’s spot on the roster. The loss of Pence is the latest blow to a Giants roster that has seen a number of key players go down with injuries this year, though Pence’s performance hasn’t been anywhere near what one would expect from the typically productive slugger. The 34-year-old has been at least 18 percent better than the league-average hitter in each of the past four seasons, per park-adjusted metrics OPS+ and wRC+, and he’s batted a combined .281/.339/.463 in that time. However, this year, he’s mustered just a .243/.289/.338 batting line through his first 149 plate appearances.

A few more notable injury scenarios from around the league…

  • Giants closer Mark Melancon is on the mend and appears to be progressing well, as the right-hander told reporters that he threw a 22-pitch mound session today (Twitter links via John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle and Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. Melancon said that he was “pretty much full go,” and Pavlovic notes that he can be activated as soon as tomorrow. Derek Law has been filling in as San Francisco’s closer with Melancon on the shelf.
  • An MRI of Drew Pomeranz’s left triceps didn’t reveal any new injuries, and the Red Sox lefty has been cleared to resume baseball activities, tweets Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. News on Tyler Thornburg, though, isn’t as good. The Sox are still trying to get to the bottom of the shoulder woes Thornburg is experiencing, as Evan Drellich of CSNNE.com tweets. Thornburg is set for additional testing and medical consultations this week. He has yet to take the hill since arriving in Boston via trade over the winter.
  • The Indians will be without Brandon Guyer for the next four to six weeks due to a sprained left wrist, manager Terry Francona told reporters today (via MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian). Guyer will be completely shut down for a week before he begins the next phase of his rehab. Bastian also notes that ace Corey Kluber tossed a 20-pitch session today but still needs a more aggressive mound session and a simulated game before he’s cleared to begin a rehab assignment. And if those injuries aren’t enough for Cleveland, the Indians’ No. 2 starter, Carlos Carrasco, exited tonight’s game with tightness in his left pectoral muscle (Twitter link via Bastian). There’s no word on the severity of that issue, though it seems reasonable to expect further word following the completion of tonight’s game.
  • Steve Pearce became the latest member of the Blue Jays to land on the disabled list, as the infielder/outfielder suffered a calf injury last night and was placed on the 10-day DL today following an MRI. The Jays announced the injury as a right calf strain and did not offer a timeline on Pearce’s absence. Right-hander Leonel Campos is up from Triple-A to give the relief corps a quick boost, though as Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith tweets, that gives the Jays a two-man bench and a nine-man bullpen. As such, it seems likely that a reliever will be sent down soon. On a more positive note for Toronto fans, the team also announced that Troy Tulowitzki began a rehab assignment today, suggesting that he’s quite near to a return.
  • Padres outfielder Travis Jankowski has been on the DL since late April, and MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell now tweets that it’ll be at least another six weeks before the defensive standout is ready to return to the team. Jankowski hit the DL with what was termed a “deep bone bruise,” though reports at the time suggested that doctors believed there could be a hairline fracture in his foot. Per Cassavell, Jankowski’s most recent tests did indeed reveal a fracture, which lengthens the amount of time that he’ll be away from the club.

Indians Designate Michael Martinez For Assignment

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The Indians have designated utilityman Michael Martinez for assignment and selected the contract of outfielder Dan Robertson from Triple-A Columbus, per a team announcement.

[RELATED: Updated Indians Depth Chart]

The 34-year-old Martinez is in the midst of his third season as a member of the Cleveland organization, which briefly separated from in 2016 by way of a July trade with Boston. Martinez ended up returning to the Indians via waivers in August, and he went on to make the final out in the club’s Game 7 World Series loss to the Cubs. While Martinez is versatile in the field, having appeared at six defensive positions in his career (he even pitched earlier this season), he has been an especially poor offensive player in the majors. Martinez owns a .200/.246/.270 line in 592 plate appearances, though he has performed well in an extremely small sample this year (.364/.462/.455 in 14 PAs).

Robertson, 31, made his major league debut with the Rangers in 2014 and has also seen action with the Angels and Mariners, hitting .273/.322/.325 with no home runs in 298 PAs. He has been far more successful at the Triple-A level, having slashed .290/.365/.393 in 1,929 trips to the plate.

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