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Kevin Quackenbush

Kevin Quackenbush Signs With Long Island Ducks

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The Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League have signed right-hander Kevin Quackenbush, per club president/general manager Michael Pfaff on Twitter.

Quackenbush, 34, had some solid seasons earlier in his career with the Padres. He tossed 54 innings or more in three straight seasons starting in 2014, posting a combined 3.50 ERA in that time along with a 21.7% strikeout rate, 8.4% walk rate and 38.6% ground ball rate.

Unfortunately, his ERA shot up to 7.86 in 2017 and he was outrighted off the roster that year, kicking off the journeyman era of his career. He signed with the Reds for 2018 but got just 10 appearances before he was outrighted off the roster. He signed minor league deals with the Dodgers and Nationals for 2019 and 2020, respectively, but didn’t make the majors in either of those campaigns. He returned to the Dodgers on a minor league deal for 2021 and was selected to the roster in August but designated for assignment after just one appearance of a third of an inning.

In his major league career, he has a 4.41 ERA in 204 career appearances with a strikeout rate of 21%, a 9.2% walk rate and a 39.3% ground ball rate. He spent last year with Toros de Tijuana of the Mexican League, posting a 2.70 ERA.

The Ducks have signed a few guys with major league experience recently, having inked Daniel Murphy and Rubén Tejada about a month ago, though Quackenbush surely is the most aptly-named of any former big leaguer they could have found.

Ryan Meisinger, Kevin Quackenbush Elect Free Agency

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Right-handers Ryan Meisinger and Kevin Quackenbush have elected for free agency, as per the official transactions page for Triple-A West.  The two hurlers had been part of the Dodgers organization, and both had the option of becoming free agents since they have both been outrighted off 40-man rosters more than once in their careers.  Los Angeles outrighted both Meisinger and Quackenbush within the last two months.

The Dodgers claimed Meisinger off waivers from the Cubs in August but he never saw any big league action in Dodger Blue, though he did impress at the Triple-A level with an 0.84 ERA over 10 2/3 frames for the Oklahoma City affiliate.  Over 40 1/3 combined innings at Triple-A in 2021, Meisinger had a 3.35 ERA and a very impressive 34.6% strikeout rate, but also with an 11.17% walk rate.

Meisinger has had pretty solid numbers in the minors, except with steadily increasing walk and homer rates as he has moved up the ladder, culminating in some rough numbers over his brief big league career.  Over 31 career IP with the Orioles, Cardinals, and Cubs, Meisinger has allowed eight homers and issued 19 walks (against 30 strikeouts), resulting in a 7.26 ERA.

Quackenbush signed a minor league deal with L.A. in May and made it to the majors for one game, tossing a third of an inning in the Dodgers’ 8-2 win over the Angels on August 8.  This cup of coffee represented Quackenbush’s first MLB action since 2018.  A regular in the Padres bullpen from 2014-17, Quackenbush has since bounced around to a few different clubs, including a previous stint in the Dodgers’ farm system in 2019.  Like Meisinger, Quackenbush also pitched well at Triple-A this season, posting a 1.65 ERA over 43 2/3 frames of work.

Dodgers Designate Kevin Quackenbush For Assignment

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The Dodgers have recalled righty Mitch White from Triple-A Oklahoma City and opened a spot on the roster by designating right-hander Kevin Quackenbush for assignment, tweets Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic.

Quackenbush returned to the big leagues for the for the first time since 2018 recently but appeared in just one game with Los Angeles. The 32-year-old surrendered a run on three hits in one third of an inning.

While it obviously wasn’t a great outing for Quackenbush, the former Reds and Padres righty has been nothing short of dominant in Triple-A this year. He’s tallied 29 1/3 innings and pitched to a pristine 0.61 ERA, striking out 25.7 percent of his opponents against an 11.6 percent walk rate. That success in Triple-A at least creates the possibility that another club in need of bullpen depth will claim Quackenbush. It’s been several years since he was a consistently successful big league reliever, but from 2014-16 he did toss 172 1/3 innings of 3.50 ERA ball out of the Padres’ bullpen.

Dodgers Select Kevin Quackenbush, Place Darien Nunez On Injured List

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The Dodgers have placed left-hander Darien Nunez on the injured list, the team announced.  Right-hander Kevin Quackenbush’s contract has been selected from Triple-A, and the reliever will now take Nunez’s spot on the active roster.

Quackenbush signed a minor league deal in May and has looked quite impressive at Triple-A Oklahoma City, recording an 0.61 ERA and 27.5% strikeout rate over 29 1/3 relief innings.  Quackenbush also pitched for Oklahoma City in 2019 on a previous minors contract with L.A., though he was let go after the season, and a subsequent minor league deal with the Nationals in 2020 didn’t lead anywhere.

The 32-year-old Quackenbush will now get an opportunity with the World Series champions after not pitching in the majors since 2018.  Quackenbush posted a 4.38 ERA over 207 2/3 innings with the Padres and Reds from 2014-18, breaking into the big leagues with three years of solid work in San Diego’s bullpen before running into some major struggles in 2017.

Nunez only made his MLB debut this season, appearing in five games with Los Angeles and posting a 6.14 ERA over his first 7 1/3 innings in the Show.  The Cuban southpaw signed with the Dodgers in 2018 and delivered some big numbers in the minors, with a 2.34 ERA and 39.76% strikeout rate over 104 innings as a relief pitcher.

Minor MLB Transactions: 5/10/21

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Catching up on some minor league moves from around baseball…

  • The Astros have signed righty Michael Kelly to a minor league pact, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle tweets. Kelly was the 48th overall pick of the Padres in the 2011 draft, but he hasn’t made it to the bigs thus far. Along with the Padres, the 28-year-old appeared in the minors with the Orioles through 2018, recording a 5.35 ERA over 607 2/3 innings. Kelly’s most recent professional action came in 2019 with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs of the independent Atlantic League.

Earlier updates:

  • The Dodgers signed right-handers Kevin Quackenbush, Austin Bibens-Dirkx, and Aaron Wilkerson to minor league contracts earlier this month, and all are on the roster for the team’s Triple-A affiliate.  Quackenbush is the most experienced of the trio, with 207 2/3 MLB innings with the Padres and Reds from 2014-18, and the 32-year-old is back in the Dodgers organization after previously pitching for Triple-A Oklahoma City in 2019.  Bibens-Dirkx was a member of several organizations before catching on with the Rangers in 2016 and posting a 5.27 ERA over 114 1/3 innings from 2017-18.  Wilkerson appeared in parts of three Major League seasons with the Brewers from 2017-19, posting a 6.88 ERA over 35 1/3 frames of work.
  • The Indians signed right-hander Matt Koch to a minor league deal back in April.  Koch pitched for the Yakult Swallows in 2020, posting a 7.88 ERA over 16 innings with the Japanese club.  Formerly a member of the Diamondbacks, Koch pitched 86 2/3 of his 125 1/3 career Major League innings in 2018, when he had a 4.15 ERA/4.85 ERA while starting 14 of his 19 games for Arizona.  For his overall career, Koch has a 4.88 ERA at the big league level.

Nationals Sign Kevin Quackenbush

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The Nationals have signed right-handed reliever Kevin Quackenbush to a minor league contract, Dan Kolko of MASN tweets. The deal includes an invitation to major league spring training.

Now 31 years old, Quackenbush was a valuable late-game option with the Padres at the outset of his career. Quackenbush amassed 172 1/3 innings of 3.50 ERA/3.63 FIP ball with 8.15 K/9 and 3.13 BB/9 from 2014-16, but it’s been all downhill since then. With the Padres and Reds from 2017-18, Quackenbush combined for an ugly 7.86 ERA/5.82 FIP with 7.86 K/9 and 5.47 BB/9 over 26 1/3 frames.

Quackenbush didn’t pitch in the majors at all last season, instead working at the Triple-A level with the Dodgers’ top affiliate. He also had his fair share of trouble preventing runs there, evidenced by a bloated 5.06 ERA in 58 2/3 innings. To his credit, though, Quackenbush did strike out 13 batters per nine while walking just 2.5.

Minor-League Pitching Signings: 11/14/18

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We’ll use this quiet morning to catch up on a few recently reported minor-league signings of veteran pitchers that we haven’t yet covered (with a hat tip to Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com for noting them) …

  • The Dodgers inked righty Kevin Quackenbush to a minors deal, his representatives at Full Circle Sports Management announced. Quackenbush broke into the majors in intriguing fashion back in 2014, then gave the Padres two more seasons of useful innings, but has fallen off more recently. He was banged around in a brief MLB showing last year with the Reds, but did give the team’s top affiliate 47 frames of 2.68 ERA ball with 10.7 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9.
  • Righty Jake Buchanan is heading to the Athletics on a minor-league pact, Melissa Lockard of The Athletic tweets. Now 29 years of age, Buchanan has seen action with three teams in the majors but has yet to command a significant opportunity at the game’s highest level. Last year, he struggled to a 5.17 ERA in 156 2/3 Triple-A innings with the Diamondbacks. Buchanan was originally an eighth-round pick of the Astros.
  • The Rays have a deal with southpaw Ryan Merritt, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). Whether or not he makes it back to the majors, Merritt’s status as a legend was safely established when he turned in 4 1/3 scoreless innings for the Indians in the 2016 ALCS. Despite that stunning appearance, Merritt hasn’t seen much regular-season MLB action. That’s due in no small part to the fact that he has had knee and shoulder troubles arise. Merritt did return last year, rather unbelievably allowing only two walks, while recording 52 strikeouts, in his 71 1/3 Triple-A frames.
  • Southpaw Tommy Layne is going to the Cardinals along with former MLB starter Williams Perez, according to Josh Jones (via Twitter), Brian Walton of TheCardinalNation.com (via Twitter) and the Mariners Minors Twitter account (link). Layne, 34, has appeared in 216 MLB games over a six-year run at the game’s highest level, but hasn’t been there since 2017. He was quite effective in 29 upper-minors innings last year in the Cards system, working to a 1.24 ERA with 11.2 K/9 and 1.2 BB/9, so he could compete for a job in camp. The 27-year-old Perez was a gap-filling piece for the Braves in 2015 and 2016. He, too, impressed in the upper minors last year, with a 2.45 ERA in 99 frames (mostly at Double-A) in the Mariners system.

Players Electing Free Agency

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Quite a few players will hit the open market this fall, and they’ll do so by way of varying mechanisms. The end of the regular season triggered a recent wave of free agents, consisting of a certain subset of players — namely, those who were outrighted from 40-man rosters during the season and accepted minor-league assignments at that time despite having the right to elect free agency. Players in that situation are entitled instead to hit the open market at season’s end, if they were not added back to the 40-man roster in the meantime.

As conveyed by Matt Eddy of Baseball America, who also covers quite a few other minor moves, these players have now elected free agency:

Athletics: RHP Raul Alcantara, LHP Danny Coulombe

Blue Jays: RHP Mike Hauschild, INF/OF Darnell Sweeney

Braves: LHP Rex Brothers, RHP Miguel Socolovich

Cardinals: LHP Tyler Lyons

Indians: RHP Evan Marshall, RHP Alexi Ogando

Mariners: RHP Christian Bergman, LHP Ross Detwiler, RHP Mike Morin, INF Zach Vincej

Marlins: OF JB Shuck

Mets: RHP Chris Beck, OF Bryce Brentz, RHP Scott Copeland, OF Matt den Dekker, INF Ty Kelly

Nationals: LHP Tommy Milone, OF Moises Sierra, RHP Carlos Torres

Orioles: RHP Jhan Marinez, INF Luis Sardinas

Padres: OF Matt Szczur

Phillies: INF Trevor Plouffe

Pirates: LHP Buddy Boshers, RHP Casey Sadler, RHP A.J. Schugel

Rangers: C Juan Centeno, LHP Anthony Gose, RHP Drew Hutchison, INF Tommy Joseph, RHP Chris Rowley

Rays: INF Brandon Snyder, RHP Ryan Weber

Reds: C Tim Federowicz, RHP Kevin Quackenbush

Tigers: INF Dixon Machado, RHP Jacob Turner

White Sox: RHP Tyler Danish

Outrighted: Quackenbush, Adams, Brothers, Ravin

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Here are the latest players to be outrighted off of their teams’ 40-man rosters:

  • The Reds announced that righty Kevin Quackenbush has been outrighted after clearing waivers following a recent DFA. The veteran could have elected free agency but has instead decided to remain in the Cincinnati organization, MLBTR’s Steve Adams tweets. Quackenbush did not produce a very appealing stat line during his ten appearances with the Reds. He surrendered 11 earned runs, with a 7:6 K/BB ratio, in just nine innings of action. In over two hundred career innings at the game’s highest level, Quackenbush carries a 4.38 ERA.
  • Outfielder Lane Adams and relievers Rex Brothers and Josh Ravin were all outrighted by the Braves, the club says. Both Adams and Ravin had recently been designated for assignment, so had already been removed from the 40-man. As for Brothers, a 30-year-old southpaw, he’ll lose his spot after a rough start to the season. He has issued eight walks in his six Triple-A frames — an area that has long been a challenge — and does not appear to be in the team’s immediate plans. The Braves will pay Brothers at a lesser rate in the minors under the split contract he agreed to last fall. Adams, who has been productive in limited action at the MLB level over the past two years, will remain on hand as an outfield depth piece. Ravin, who was claimed over the winter, will likely be among the first pitchers considered if a bullpen need arises.

Reds Designate Kevin Quackenbush For Assignment

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The Reds announced on Tuesday that they’ve designated right-hander Kevin Quackenbush for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to fellow righty Kevin Shackelford, who has been reinstated from the 10-day disabled list.

Quackenbush, 29, was tagged for 11 runs on 13 hits and six walks with seven strikeouts in nine innings out of the Cincinnati bullpen this winter. He’d been in camp with the Reds on a minor league deal and made the club out of Spring Training, but his stay in Cincinnati looks like it’ll ultimately prove to be brief.

Prior to the 2018 season, the entirety of Quackenbush’s MLB experience had come with the Padres. He was excellent in his debut season as a 25-year-old back in 2014 (2.48 ERA, 9.3 K/9, 3.9 BB/9, 0.3 HR/9) and pitched to a respectable 3.50 ERA in his first three big league seasons. Quackenbush struggled through a disastrous 2017 season, however, yielding five homers and issuing 16 walks in just 26 1/3 innings, en route to a 7.86 ERA.

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