Tigers Sign Omar Infante, 13 Others To Minors Deals
The Tigers have announced a barrage of minor-league signings, most notably including a reunion with former Detroit infielder Omar Infante. Other players receiving Spring Training invites include pitchers Ruben Alaniz, William Cuevas, Logan Kensing, Dustin Molleken, as well as catcher Miguel Gonzalez.
Infante, who’ll soon turn 35, enjoyed two prior runs in the Motor City. His most recent stint came in 2012-13, with a strong final season leading him to land a four-year deal with the Royals. Things didn’t go well in Kansas City, where Infante scuffled to a .238/.269/.328 batting line over 1,179 plate appearances. He was cut loose in the middle of last year, leaving the Royals still on the hook for his $8MM salary this season.
The team also reached agreement on minors deals without a non-roster invite with a variety of other players: pitchers Johan Belisario, Endrys Briceno, Jeff Ferrell, Santiago Garrido, and Arcenio Leon along with infielders Argenis Diaz and Gustavo Nunez.
Minor MLB Transactions: 11/9/16
Time to catch up on some recent 40-man roster moves:
- The Brewers outrighted righties Yhonathan Barrios and Ben Rowen as well as catcher Josmil Pinto, per MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert and Adam McCalvy. Barrios cracked the bigs briefly in 2015 but missed all of 2016 with shoulder issues. The 27-year-old Rowen has minimal major league experience, but did put up a strong 2.33 ERA with 7.0 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 over 58 minor league frames last year. As for Pinto, who’s also 27, he’s still waiting for another shot at the majors. His .308/.362/.517 batting line over 315 plate appearances could warrant interest.
- Recently-claimed lefty Jed Bradley has been shipped to Triple-A and off of the Orioles‘ 40-man, the team announced. Plucked from the Braves, where he briefly debuted last year, Bradley will be a useful stashed arm if a need arises.
- The Indians announce that catcher Adam Moore was outrighted. He has one of the more interesting Baseball-Reference pages you’ll ever see. Since receiving significant time in 2010 with the Mariners, he has bounced around quite a bit but managed to appear in the majors in every seasons since. Yet Moore has accumulated just fifty total MLB plate appearances in that six-year span. He’ll surely land as a depth piece somewhere, if he doesn’t return to Cleveland.
- Righty Dustin Molleken elected free agency after being outrighted by the Tigers. The 32-year-old finally reached the majors in 2016, allowing four earned runs on 12 hits and five walks against eight strikeouts over his 8 1/3 innings. Otherwise, he has spent the last five years pitching in Japan or the highest level of the minors.
- The Twins outrighted right-hander Alex Wimmers, as Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press tweets. Wimmers threw his first 17 1/3 major league innings last year, putting up a 4.15 ERA with 14 strikeouts and 11 walks. In his 56 2/3 Triple-A frames on the year, he worked to a 3.97 ERA with 8.9 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9.
- The Dodgers dropped righty Chin-hui Tsao from their 40-man roster, as MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick tweets. Now 35, Tsao has made just seven appearances over the last two seasons. All of his prior major league action came between 2003 and 2007.
- Catcher A.J. Jimenez had his contract selected by the Blue Jays, per a club announcement. He had been removed from the 40-man last spring, but will now be added to prevent him from departing as a minor league free agent. Jimenez has been in Toronto’s system since 2008, but has yet to reach the majors. he posted a .241/.290/.377 batting line over 248 plate appearances at Triple-A last year.
- The Giants added righty Ian Gardeck to their 40-man roster, as John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets. He missed all of last year due to Tommy John surgery. Gardeck’s most recent showing came at the High-A level in 2015, when he pitched to a 3.54 ERA with 10.8 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 over 86 1/3 innings.
Tigers Designate Casey McGehee For Assignment
The Tigers announced today that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Dustin Molleken from Triple-A Toldeo and designated veteran infielder Casey McGehee for assignment in order to clear a spot on the active roster. Additionally, Detroit announced that it has transferred right-hander Drew VerHagen from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day disabled list as he deals with thoracic outlet syndrome in his right shoulder.
[Related: Updated Detroit Tigers depth chart]
McGehee, 33, appeared in just one game with the Tigers and logged one plate appearance upon having his contract selected over the weekend. Prior to his promotion from the minors, he’d been enjoying a nice season with Toledo, hitting .323/.370/.440 with 17 doubles and four homers in 270 plate appearances.
In 2009-10, McGehee looked to have cemented himself as a fixture in the Brewers’ lineup, but his production fell off substantially in 2011-12. After forgettable tenures with the Pirates and Yankees in 2012, he took to Japan and revived his career with a brilliant 2013 season, during which he batted .292/.376/.515 with 28 homers. That performance earned McGehee another crack at the Majors, and he capitalized with the Marlins in 2014, batting .287/.355/.357 while serving as Miami’s primary third baseman. That success, however, was followed by renewed struggles in 2015 between the Giants (who acquired him in an offseason trade) and a second stint with the Fish. After a combined .198/.264/.274 showing between the two teams, McGehee took a minor league pact this winter.
It’ll be interesting to see if McGehee’s strong minor league production this year earns him a look elsewhere. Even if the veteran is unclaimed on waivers, he has enough service time to refuse an outright assignment and seek a new opportunity with a club that offers perhaps a clearer path to a big league role. Speculatively speaking, the Mets could use some depth at the infield corners, and the Royals, too, have seen their starting third baseman go down with a season-ending injury.
As for Molleken, the promotion to the Majors represents the culmination of 13 seasons worth of perseverance. The Canadian-born righty was a 15th-round pick of the Pirates all the way back in 2003 but has yet to throw a pitch in the Major Leagues. The Tigers are his fifth MLB organization, and he’s also spent parts of two seasons in Japan pitching for the Nippon Ham Fighters as he’s continued to pursue the big leagues. Molleken has a 4.32 ERA with 8.8 K/9 against 4.3 BB/9 in parts of six Triple-A seasons and has posted some of the best ERAs of his career across the past two seasons, during which time he’s logged a mark of 3.46.