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Athletics Add Six Players To 60-Man Pool

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The Athletics on Wednesday announced the addition of six players to their 60-man player pool: infielders Eric Campbell and Robert Puason, right-handers Wandisson Charles and Miguel Romero, and outfielders Luis Barrera and Brayan Buelvas will all join the group. Campbell will head to Oakland to join the team’s big leaguers, while the other five will head to the Athletics’ alternate training site.

Campbell, 33, is the lone member of the bunch with Major League experience. From 2014-16, Campbell was an up-and-down utility option for the Mets, appearing at all four infield spots and both corner outfield positions while hitting .221/.312/.311 in 505 plate appearances. Campbell spent the 2017 season in Japan and has been with the Triple-A clubs for the Marlins and Athletics organizations. In all, he’s seen action in parts of six Triple-A campaigns and batted a combined .310/.417/.480 in 1880 plate appearances.

Among the prospects, Puason is the most well-regarded of the bunch. The 17-year-old signed with the A’s as the headliner of their July 2 class of international prospects a year ago, inking a hearty bonus of nearly $5MM. A switch-hitting, 6’3″ shortstop with plus speed, a strong throwing arm and projectable hitting tools, Puason is a long ways from the Majors and surely won’t be considered for a role with Oakland’s big league club in 2020. He’s yet to even suit up for a game with the Oakland’s affiliate in the Dominican Summer League, but the A’s clearly want to ensure that his first full season in the organization affords him some game reps — even if only in simulated games — and some time with the coaching and player development staff.

Barrera, though, is a much more near-term option for the A’s. The 24-year-old hit .321/.365/.513 in 54 Double-A games last year and ranks ninth among Oakland farmhands at MLB.com. He split the 2019 season between center field and right field and is on the Athletics’ 40-man roster, so it’s highly feasible that he could get the opportunity to debut in the event of some injuries on the Major League club.

A’s Announce Various Minor-League Signings

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The A’s announced a spate of minor-league signings this afternoon, some of which were previously reported by Susan Slusser and Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. On the pitching side, the club brought aboard left-hander Lucas Luetge and right-handers Ian Gardeck, Zach Lee, and Brian Schlitter. They confirmed the earlier-reported signing of Jaime Schultz. Oakland also added depth on the position player side, signing catcher Carlos Pérez, and infielders Eric Campbell, Nate Orf and Ryan Goins. All nine players will receive an invitation to MLB camp in spring training.

Of those players, only Gardeck doesn’t have some MLB experience. The former Giants’ farmhand tossed 18.2 relief innings with a 2.41 ERA last season for Tampa Bay’s AA affiliate in Montgomery. Campbell and Schlitter spent last season in the A’s organization, with Schlitter pitching in six MLB games for Oakland.

Except for Schlitter, only Goins reached the game’s highest level in 2019, his seventh straight year logging MLB action. The former Blue Jay took 163 plate appearances for the White Sox and slashed .250/.333/.347. That tops the .230/.279/.335 (65 wRC+) line the infielder has accumulated over his career. He, Campbell, and Orf, a former Brewers’ prospect, could all vie for a utility role this spring.

Minor MLB Transactions: 1/25/19

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

  • The Athletics announced a wide slate of non-roster invitations to Spring Training, revealing within that they’ve signed left-hander Kyle Crockett, infielders Corban Joseph and Eric Campbell, and righty Brian Schlitter to minor league contracts. Crockett, 27, has the most significant big league experience among the new additions, having logged 9 1/3 innings with the Reds last year and 74 2/3 innings over the past five seasons. Crockett was a 2013 fourth-rounder who skyrocketed through the minors and impressed in a 2014 MLB debut (1.80 ERA, 8.4 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 in 30 innings). He’s managed just a 5.04 ERA in 44 2/3 frames since, though his 45-to-17 K/BB ratio in that time is solid. Joseph, 30, posted a .541 OPS in 19 plate appearances with the O’s last season and hit .312/.381/.497 in 523 Double-A PAs last year. Campbell, 31, had a three-year run as an up-and-down utility piece for the Mets from 2014-16 and hasn’t been in the Majors since. He’s a career .221/.312/.311 hitter and enjoyed a .313/.420/.445 slash in 402 Triple-A PAs with Miami last year. Schlitter, 33, hasn’t been in the Majors since 2015. He has an ugly 5.40 ERA in 71 2/3 innings with the Cubs but worked to a solid 3.36 ERA in 67 innings with the Dodgers’ top affiliate last season.

Minor MLB Transactions: 2/17/18

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The latest minor league deals from around the sport…

  • The Dodgers have inked right-hander Justin De Fratus to a minors deal, with the pitcher revealing the signing himself via his Instagram page.  De Fratus is looking to make it back to the majors for the first time since 2015, when he posted a 5.51 ERA over 80 relief innings for the Phillies.  The advanced metrics (4.28 FIP, 4.46 xFIP, 4.03 SIERA, .335 BABIP) paint a more forgiving portrait of that performance, and De Fratus has been a very solid reliever in his previous 114 innings out of the Phils’ bullpen dating back to 2011.
  • The Marlins signed Eric Campbell to a minor league deal earlier this month, MetsMerized Online’s Jacob Resnick reports (via Twitter).  Campbell signed with NPB’s Hanshin Tigers last offseason but only ended up playing 21 games in Japan.  An eighth-round pick for the Mets in the 2008 draft, Campbell spent his entire North American pro career in New York’s organization, including 196 games at the big league level in 2014-16 that saw him hit .221/.312/.311 over 505 plate appearances.

Minor MLB Transactions: 11/19/16

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The latest minor moves from around the baseball world…

  • The Giants signed southpaw Michael Roth to a minor league deal, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports (Twitter link).  Roth has appeared in parts of three big league seasons with the Angels and Rangers, posting an 8.50 ERA over 36 career innings.  He spent most of 2016 pitching for the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate, and he managed a strong 2.97 ERA over 145 1/3 innings, starting 23 of 28 games.
  • The Giants have also signed infielder Juniel Querecuto to a minor league deal, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports via Twitter.  The 24-year-old made his major league debut in 2016, appearing in four games with the Rays.  Since being signed out of Venezuela and beginning his pro career at age 17, Querecuto has hit .253/.311/.319 over 2112 minor league plate appearances.
  • Former Mets utilityman Eric Campbell will sign with the Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball, according to reports out of Japan (hat tip to ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin).  The Mets outrighted Campbell off their 40-man roster earlier this month and he elected to become a free agent.  Campbell, who turns 30 in April, has a .622 OPS over 505 career plate appearances in the bigs, all as a member of the Mets from 2014-16.  Most of Campbell’s playing time has been at third base, though he has also seen significant time at first and left field, as well as limited action as a shortstop, right fielder and second baseman.
  • The Mariners announced that outfielder Stefen Romero has been released so that he can pursue an opportunity to play in Japan.  Romero appeared in 72 games for Seattle in his 2014 rookie season but just 22 since, amassing a .195/.242/.307 career slash line over 233 plate appearances.  A 12th-round pick for the M’s in the 2010 draft, Romero showed some promise in the minors, posting an .875 OPS and an even 100 homers over 2567 minor league PA.

Mets Outright Jim Henderson, Eric Campbell

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Right-hander Jim Henderson and corner infielder Eric Campbell have been outrighted off the Mets’ 40-man roster after clearing waivers, according to ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin. Both players can elect minor league free agency in lieu of their subtraction from the roster and seem likely to do so.

Henderson, who recently turned 34, made the Mets’ roster out of Spring Training after signing a minor league contract last winter. The former Brewers closer once again demonstrated his ability to miss bats, averaging 10.3 K/9, but he also struggled tremendously with the long ball. Henderson was among the game’s most fly-ball prone pitchers, and while he didn’t see an inordinate percentage of the fly-balls he yielded turn into homers (13.2 percent), the sheer volume of balls put in the air against him resulted in an average of 1.8 HR/9. In total, Henderson delivered 35 innings of 4.37 ERA ball for the Mets but also missed significant time due to tendinitis in his right biceps.

The 29-year-old Campbell (30 in April) has spent his entire professional career in the Mets organization and has been up and down between the Majors and minors over the past three seasons. He showed some promise in 2014 when he batted a respectable .263/.322/.358 in 211 plate appearances with New York, but his offensive output has deteriorated in each of the two subsequent seasons. All told, he’s a career .221/.312/.311 hitter in 505 big league plate appearances. Campbell has experience at both third base and first base and has also made cameos in each outfield corner over the course of his limited time with the Mets. He’s a career .322/.429/.488 hitter in parts of four Triple-A seasons — albeit in a wildly hitter-friendly Las Vegas/Pacific Coast League environment — and should be able to compete for a bench role in 2017, whether on a new minors pact with the Mets or with a new organization.

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