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Minor MLB Transactions: 3/26/18

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We’ll use this post to run down the day’s minor moves:

  • After being designated for assignment yesterday, catcher Chris Herrmann was released by the Diamondbacks, per a club announcement. The 30-year-old won’t get a chance to prove he can return to the strong batting output he produced in 2016 — at least in Arizona.  That effort earned Herrmann a career-high 256 plate appearances last season, but he managed only a .181/.273/.345 batting line. He has, however, enjoyed a solid spring, swatting two long balls and carrying a .300/.324/.567 slash in 34 Cactus League plate appearances.
  • The Nationals have brought back Alejandro De Aza on a minor-league deal after releasing him to avoid the necessity of a $100K retention bonus, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets. Soon to turn 34, De Aza is at this point mostly an organizational depth piece, though he has at times in the not-so-distant past been a significant contributor at the MLB level. Indeed, he carries an approximately league-average overall offensive line through nearly three thousand major-league plate appearances, most of which have come since the start of the 2012 season. De Aza played only briefly in the majors last year with the Nats and hit .280/.368/.403 in his 212 Triple-A plate appearances.
  • Also re-signing after being released was infielder Gordon Beckham, who’ll head to the minors with the Mariners, per Cotillo (via Twitter). The 31-year-old had a torrid spring but, like De Aza, has generally been on the downswing of late after receiving quite a lot of opportunities earlier in his career. Until last year, Beckham had played in at least 88 MLB contests annually since cracking the majors (despite minimal minor-league seasoning) in 2009. But his chances, which were already on the decline, largely petered out in 2017, as he made it into just 11 games in the majors. In his 355 plate appearances at Triple-A in the Mariners organization, Beckham posted a .262/.313/.393 batting line.
  • The Diamondbacks have sent outfielder Ramon Flores to the Red Sox, Cotillo also tweets. It is not apparent what Arizona is getting back in return, or whether Flores might even be the PTBNL in the recent swap between the teams. Either way, it’s a minor transactions. Flores signed a minors deal with Arizona and has struggled this spring. He carries only a .204/.281/.256 slash line in 331 plate appearances, but has generally hit well at Triple-A. Last year, Flores hit .312/.409/.460 with ten home runs and 68 walks against 70 strikeouts in his 493 trips to the plate at the highest level of the minors.

Minor MLB Transactions: 3/23/18

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The latest moves from around the baseball world…

  • The Mariners announced that infielder Gordon Beckham has been released from his minor league contract.  Beckham had an opt-out clause in his contract for tomorrow, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times tweets, and since the veteran wasn’t going to make the M’s roster, the release gives him some extra time to catch on with a new team.  Beckham re-signed with the Mariners on a minor league deal this winter after spending 2017 in the organization, hitting .262/.313/.393 in 355 PA for Triple-A Tacoma and also appearing in 11 games at the Major League level.

Minor MLB Transactions: 12/12/17

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Here are the latest minor league moves from around baseball, with the newest transactions at the top of the post…

  • The Mariners have re-signed infielder Gordon Beckham to a new minor league deal, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets.  Beckham spent 2017 on another minor league contract with Seattle and spent the majority of the season at the Triple-A level, appearing in just 11 games in an Mariners uniform.  The light-hitting veteran utilityman will continue to provide the M’s with some infield depth in the minors, though it seems unlikely Beckham will get much time on the 25-man roster unless injury strikes.
  • The Angels signed outfielder Rymer Liriano to a minors deal, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports.  Once ranked as a top-60 prospect in baseball during his time in the Padres farm system, Liriano has a .274/.346/.432 slash line over 3599 career PA in the minors but he has appeared just sparingly in the majors, posting a .580 OPS over 167 PA with the Padres and White Sox.  Forty-six of those plate appearances came last season for Chicago, as Liriano got his first taste of big league action since 2014.
  • The Dodgers have agreed to sign Colombian right-hander Guillermo Zuniga to a deal with a $205K bonus, MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez reports (Twitter link).  Zuniga was one of the 12 former Braves prospects who were declared free agents in the wake of MLB’s investigation into signing improprieties within Atlanta’s front office.  Each of the other 29 teams received an extra $200K in international bonus pool funds to sign any of these players, so the Dodgers only slightly dipped into their pre-existing pool money for Zuniga.  The Braves originally signed Zuniga, 19, to a $350K bonus.

Mariners Designate Shawn O’Malley For Assignment

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The Mariners have designated utilityman Shawn O’Malley for assignment, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times tweets. The move clears space on the team’s 40-man roster for infielder Gordon Beckham, whose contract the Mariners have selected from Triple-A Tacoma.

The 29-year-old O’Malley played a significant role on the 2016 Mariners, batting .229/.299/.319 in 89 games while playing six positions. This year, however, he missed time due to an appendectomy, then a significant shoulder injury. He hasn’t appeared in the big leagues at all and hasn’t hit much in 20 games with Tacoma as he’s tried to shake off the rust.

Beckham signed with the Mariners after the Giants released him near the end of Spring Training. He’s produced a .262/.313/.393 line this season for Tacoma. The veteran played in 88 games last year with the Braves and Giants, batting .212/.294/.347. He should provide a bit of extra infield depth for the Mariners down the stretch.

Mariners, Gordon Beckham Agree To Minors Deal

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The Mariners have agreed to a minor league contract with free-agent infielder Gordon Beckham, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter). Beckham, who was released by the Giants last week, is represented by CAA Baseball.

The 30-year-old Beckham has struggled considerably at the plate over the past three big league seasons, hitting a collective .218/.278/.344 in 999 plate appearances between the White Sox, Braves and Giants. He inked a minor league deal to return to San Francisco this offseason, but his fortunes didn’t turn in Spring Training, as he slashed a lackluster .194/.268/.250 in camp with the Giants. That level of output placed him firmly behind fellow veteran Aaron Hill (who took a $100K retention bonus to stay in San Francisco) and offseason signee Jae-gyun Hwang, who is also in camp on a minors deal.

Seattle figures to send Beckham to Triple-A Tacoma, where he can serve as an insurance policy at a number of positions and could eventually surface as a bench option. The Mariners’ infield is set with Kyle Seager at third base, Jean Segura at shortstop and Robinson Cano at second base, Danny Valencia at first base and Taylor Motter on the bench as a super utility option. But, Beckham could conceivably bounce around the infield should injuries arise at the Major League level.

Giants Release Gordon Beckham

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5:05pm: The Giants have officially released Beckham, the club told reporters (including Andrew Baggarly of the Bay Area News Group).

4:10pm: The Giants will release Gordon Beckham from his minor league contract with the club as per Beckham’s request, MLBTR has learned.  Beckham originally joined the Giants in a late-September trade with the Braves and re-signed with the club in February, joining a very crowded battle within the Giants’ camp to decide the third base and utility infield jobs.

The 30-year-old Beckham will now look for a clearer opportunity elsewhere with teams in need of infield depth.  Most of Beckham’s MLB experience has some at second base dating back to his days as a regular with the White Sox, though he has also seen substantial action at third base over the last three seasons and even some action at short, starting seven games at the position for Atlanta in 2016.  Beckham has hit .211/.285/.340 over 516 PA since the start of the 2015 season, though he does own a career .260/.360/.458 slash line coming off the bench (in 114 PA) over his career.

Giants To Re-Sign Gordon Beckham

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The Giants have agreed to a minor-league deal to bring back infielder Gordon Beckham, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter). He’ll earn at a $1.25MM annual rate if he cracks the MLB roster, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag tweets.

Beckham, 30, landed in San Francisco late last year — September 27th — as the team sought to bolster its depth down the stretch. Though he didn’t manage a hit in six plate appearances, and wasn’t eligible for the postseason, he left a good impression on the organization, per Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area (via Twitter).

Before that, Beckham turned in a .217/.300/.354 batting line in his 273 plate appearances with the Braves, who had signed him to a one-year deal last winter. The former first-round draft pick had spent the vast bulk of his career to that point with the White Sox, though he also had a brief stint with the Angels.

For the Giants, Beckham figures to enter a camp battle for roster spots and playing time in the infield. Though Joe Panik will likely command the bulk of the reps at second, he did struggle against left-handed pitching last year. And there’s plenty up for grabs at third, with Eduardo Nunez perhaps best suited to a utility role. Beckham could end up jockeying for position with fellow right-handed hitter Jae-gyun Hwang, with lefty swinging Conor Gillaspie also representing a factor.

Giants Acquire Gordon Beckham

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7:36pm: Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area tweets that the trade is now official and adds that the Giants will send minor league infielder Rich Rodriguez to the Braves in return. While it’s certainly surprising to see a player headed back to the Braves, Rodriguez spent the 2016 season, his age-22 campaign, at Class-A Advanced and batted .174/.209/.183 in 117 plate appearances.

MLB.com’s Chris Haft tweets that Nunez is expected to be out for the next two to three days, so the Giants ultimately may not lean on Beckham for more than a couple of games.

2:32pm: The deal is going through, with cash consideration to Atlanta, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman tweets.

1:48pm: The Giants are “very close” to striking a deal to acquire infielder Gordon Beckham from the Braves, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reports on Twitter. Presumably, the move would be made to help cover for Eduardo Nunez, who is dealing with a hamstring issue.

It’s obviously rare to see trades at this stage of the season, but hardly unprecedented. Beckham, 30, would not be eligible for the San Francisco postseason roster and is a free agent after the season. But the team evidently feels that it needs a boost to its infield mix over the final six games, as it clings to a Wild Card slot.

If Nunez is out, the Giants would be left with options such as Conor Gillaspie, Ehire Adrianza, and Kelby Tomlinson at third base. Beckham isn’t exactly a premium addition — he owns only a .217/.300/.354 batting line over 273 plate appearances on the year — but promises to bolster that unit. He has been somewhat more useful against left-handed pitching, so the club will pick up some flexibility if nothing else.

Braves Sign Gordon Beckham

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The Braves have announced that they’ve signed longtime White Sox infielder Gordon Beckham to a one-year deal. The Relativity Sports client will receive $1.25MM, with the possibility of an additional $500K worth of incentives.

Despite having been in the league for seven seasons, Beckham is still just 29 years of age. He’s coming off a disappointing season in Chicago that saw him bat a career-worst .209/.275/.332 in 237 plate appearances, though defensive metrics did praise his work at both second base and third base last season. Beckham carries a good bit of experience at both positions and is a lifetime .242/.304/.372 hitter that has averaged 13 homers per 162 games.

While he hasn’t lived up to the expectations many carried when he was selected with the eighth overall pick in the 2008 draft, Beckham will provide the Braves with an option at either second base or third base, both of which are positions of need in Atlanta. While Jace Peterson had a solid three-month run at second base in 2015, he wilted considerably from July through season’s end, hitting just .212/.281/.297 over his final 80 games/299 plate appearances. Some pegged Peterson as a utility player more than a starter when he was coming through the Padres’ system, and Beckham at least gives Atlanta a platoon partner for Peterson, who hit a dreadful .190/.234/.276 versus lefties in 2015.

At third base, Hector Olivera was believed to be a possible long-term option, but the Braves have recently transitioned him to the outfield, so there’s an opening at the hot corner as well. While Beckham probably won’t be counted on as an everyday option there, he does provide some experience at the position and give the Braves an element of depth.

Beckham’s signing could mean that infielder Pedro Ciriaco isn’t long for the Braves’ 40-man roster. The deadline to tender arbitration-eligible players a contract is tonight, and with Beckham and Adonis Garcia both serving as fellow right-handed options, the Braves could jettison the well-traveled Ciriaco.

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported the signing and the dollar amount (via Twitter). MLB.com’s Mark Bowman was the first to tweet the incentive structure of the deal.

Central Notes: Melvin, Garcia, Beckham, Twins

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Now that the Brewers have settled Ron Roenicke’s contract situation, the focus has now naturally turned to GM Doug Melvin, whose own deal is set to expire after the 2015 season.  Talking with reporters, including Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Twitter links), Melvin said that he felt Roenicke’s extension was the more important deal to complete first so Roenicke wouldn’t have “lame duck” status hanging over him with the players.  Getting an extension of his own isn’t as important to Melvin at the moment, though he figures he may talk to owner Mark Attanasio about the topic at some point.

Here are some more items from around both the NL and AL Central…

  • Jaime Garcia’s checkered injury history and high salary ($9.25MM in 2015 plus $500K to buy out his $11.5MM club option for 2016) make him a tough sell as a trade candidate, Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes in his breakdown of Garcia’s trade value.  The Cardinals could pay some money to help make a deal happen, though that presumes they want to deal Garcia at all — Miklasz notes that Garcia has pitched well this spring and could be a valuable depth piece for the Cards this season.
  • While the White Sox were looking for a player with Gordon Beckham’s skillset this winter, GM Rick Hahn tells ESPN Chicago’s Doug Padilla that he initially didn’t consider Beckham “because I didn’t think this was necessarily right fit for Gordon Beckham, individually.”  Hahn felt Beckham might be better suited to getting a fresh start with a club rather than returning to his original team, but after discussing the matter with Beckham and his agent, the infielder assured the GM that he was happy and eager to return to Chicago.  From that same piece, Angels manager Mike Scioscia said that the Halos “were competitive” in making Beckham an offer close to the $2MM he received from the Sox.
  • Danny Santana’s $530K salary for 2015 makes him the highest-paid of the Twins’ pre-arbitration players, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports.  Berardino has the full list of salaries for all 17 Minnesota pre-arb players.

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