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Minor MLB Transactions: 4/9/16

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Here are today’s minor moves from around the league.

  • Phillies outfield prospect Andrew Pullin has retired, reports Matt Gelb (Twitter). Pullin, 22, tied for the Florida State League lead with 14 home runs last season. A 2012 fifth round pick, Pullin had experience in parts of four professional seasons. No reason was cited for his retirement.
  • The Angels have optioned hard throwing reliever Cam Bedrosian to the minors, the club reports. In a corresponding move, A.J. Achter has been promoted to the major league roster. Achter, 27, is a soft-tossing righty with an extreme fly ball tendency. In 13 major league innings last season, he allowed four home runs. Achter does have good command with a history of solid strikeout rates. Bedrosian continues to struggle with commanding his 95 mph fastball. The club likely hopes a stint in the minors can help him to locate better.
  • Blue Jays starter Scott Copeland has reportedly been sold to a Korean team, tweets Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News. Copeland, 28, made his major league debut last season, pitching to a 6.46 ERA with 3.52 K/9 and 1.17 BB/9. He’s a command and control righty whose stuff works best in a Quad-A role.
  • The Brewers have announced that they’ve outrighted righty Ariel Pena to Triple-A Colorado Springs. Pena has three days to decide whether to accept the assignment. Pena opened the season in Milwaukee’s bullpen, but the Brewers designated him for assignment this week when they acquired Sam Freeman. Pena split the 2015 season between Colorado Springs and Milwaukee, posting a 4.28 ERA, 8.9 K/9 and 4.6 BB/9 in six outings (including five starts) with the big club.
  • The Dodgers will sign veteran lefty Sean Burnett to a minor-league deal with a May 1 opt-out date, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal writes (Twitter links). As Rosenthal notes, the Dodgers only have one lefty (J.P. Howell) in their current bullpen. Burnett pitched well for the Nationals this spring, but ultimately exercised his opt-out and was released. He last appeared in the Majors in 2014, and it’s been since 2012, when he pitched 56 2/3 innings with a 2.38 ERA with Washington, since he’s been a significant contributor. Since then, he’s struggled with elbow trouble.
  • The Reds will select the contract of righty Tim Melville tomorrow so that he can make a spot start in place of Anthony DeSclafani, who’s dealing with an oblique injury, C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer writes. The Reds say that DeSclafani hasn’t had a setback, but isn’t quite ready to pitch. The Reds signed Melville to a minor-league deal in November after he posted a 4.63 ERA, 6.1 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9 for the Tigers’ Triple-A affiliate in Toledo.

Central Notes: Gomez, Castillo, Polanco

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Outfielder Carlos Gomez would eventually like to retire with the Brewers, Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel writes. “I feel in my heart and my mind that this is the organization where I grew up,” says Gomez. “My best memory in my career is in a Brewers uniform and I’d like to retire some day in this uniform.” Gomez, of course, currently plays for the Astros (who are currently in Milwaukee), and his desire to finish his career with the Brew Crew isn’t likely to result in an imminent transaction, and might not even lead to him signing with the Brewers once his current contract expires this fall. But it’s hardly surprising that the Brewers organization would hold a special place in his heart. After coming through the Mets system and playing for two seasons with the Twins, Gomez blossomed in Milwaukee, finishing in the top ten in NL MVP voting with a 7.4-fWAR season in 2013 and making the All-Star team that year and in 2014. Here’s more from the Central divisions.

  • Dave Dombrowski’s Tigers offered outfielder Rusney Castillo a $40MM deal when Castillo was a free agent, Jon Heyman tweets. That figure didn’t approach the $72.5MM offer Castillo eventually got from the Red Sox, but it suggests that Dombrowski liked Castillo even before taking over as the Red Sox’ president of baseball operations. Castillo’s deal with the Red Sox, of course, hasn’t worked out well so far, and he has yet to receive a plate appearance this season.
  • Fellow Pirates players say Gregory Polanco’s recent extension will help him perform better by protecting him from worry about his contract status, Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes. “I told [Polanco], just like when it happened to me, it’s good to get it out of the way,” says Andrew McCutchen, who received his own long-term deal in 2012. “I honestly think that’s kind of helped him. He’s going to be able to just go out and not worry. He’s financially set, and I’m looking forward to him being able to be the player that we know he can be.”

Quick Hits: Schwarber, Nathan, Lincecum, Capuano

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Cubs catcher/outfielder Kyle Schwarber left today’s game after suffering an apparent left leg injury in an outfield collision with Dexter Fowler. He ended up being carted off of the field after medical personnel examined his knee and lower leg — including his ankle. It’s usually difficult to know the severity of an injury just from watching a review, and it’s certainly possible that Schwarber escaped serious harm, but the violent impact to a vulnerable area certainly did not look promising. Currently, there’s no news of even an initial assessment, so this remains a notable story to watch at present.

Here’s more from around the game:

  • Free agent righty Joe Nathan is working out on his home with intentions of a return at some point this year, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets. The 41-year-old is on his way back from Tommy John surgery and will also be looking to bounce back from some tough recent results, but he’s had success well into his late thirties.
  • Another familiar veteran righty working out privately is Tim Lincecum, who was reportedly planning a showcase that has yet to occur. While we await further news on that front, Dan Wade of the Hardball Times looks at the general prognosis for his attempt to rehab a hip labrum tear. In Wade’s analysis, it’s reasonable to think that the 31-year-old could return to being a back-of-the-rotation arm, though anything more may be wishful thinking.
  • Chris Capuano is set to earn a $1.5MM base salary with the Brewers after cracking the Opening Day roster as a minor league free agent, Heyman reports on Twitter. The southpaw can also take down as much as $1.25MM in incentives. Capuano, 37, will open in the pen but could also provide a swingman option as the season goes along.

Brewers Acquire Sam Freeman, Designate Ariel Pena

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The Brewers announced on Tuesday that they have acquired left-hander Sam Freeman from the Rangers in exchange for cash considerations. In order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Freeman, the Brewers have designated right-hander Ariel Pena for assignment.

Freeman, 28, had been designated for assignment himself by the Rangers last week when Texas acquired backup catcher Bryan Holaday from the Tigers. Texas originally acquired Freeman from the Cardinals (also, in exchange for cash) one year and one day prior to his DFA. The former 32nd-round draft pick spent a good portion of the 2015 season in the Rangers’ bullpen, tallying 38 1/3 innings with a 3.05 ERA, 9.4 K/9, 5.4 BB/9 and a 48.5 percent ground-ball rate. Freeman throws fairly hard for a left-hander, averaging 93.8 mph on his heater throughout his career.

Control has been a problem for Freeman throughout his big league career, though, as he’s averaged 4.9 walks per nine innings pitched. Beyond that, he has a bizarre platoon split, having held right-handed batters to a .181/.280/.233 batting line in 232 plate appearances while surrendering a .279/.397/.419 line to opposing lefties. That said, he’ll give the Brewers another left-handed option in the bullpen after injuries have placed both Will Smith and Sean Nolin on the disabled list.

As for Pena, the 26-year-old stood as the last remaining piece from the Brewers’ trade of Zack Greinke to the Angels back in 2012. Milwaukee acquired Pena, right-hander Johnny Hellweg and shortstop Jean Segura in exchange for Greinke, but all three are now out of the organization (though Segura, of course, brought right-hander Chase Anderson and prospect Isan Diaz to the club this winter, so the trade, like most, has had a trickle-down effect of sorts). Pena rated among Baseball America’s Top 30 Brewers prospects from 2012-14, but he never experienced much success in the upper minors and struggled in 2015 (his MLB debut season) and in his lone appearance of the 2016 campaign. All told, Pena has a 5.59 ERA in 29 big league innings, and while he’s managed to whiff 27 batters in that time, he’s also issued 16 walks and hit two batters.

Matt Garza Out At Least Four To Six Weeks With Lat Strain

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Brewers right-hander Matt Garza learned today that a strained lat muscle will sideline him for the next four to six weeks, he told reporters, including Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (Twitter link). Garza has been dealing with some tightness in his shoulder, but based on his comments, he wasn’t anticipating anything overly serious from his medical examinations. Via MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy (Twitter link), Garza told the media: “I’m not afraid of work, it just wasn’t what I was looking forward to at the beginning.”

Garza, 32, was expected to return to the Brewers’ rotation after losing his spot late last season, but he’ll now spend the foreseeable future on the disabled list instead. Right-hander Zach Davies stands out as a likely candidate to step into the rotation alongside fellow right-handers Wily Peralta, Jimmy Nelson, Taylor Jungmann and Chase Anderson, although top prospect Jorge Lopez received some Major League experience in 2015 as well. And, as McCalvy further tweets, the Brewers won’t need a fifth starter through the first 11 games due to scheduled off days, so there’s no immediate need to promote a starter in Garza’s place. For the time being, righty Tyler Cravy will be promoted to take Garza’s roster spot.

While the rebuilding Brewers aren’t expected to contend this season, it’s nonetheless a disappointing way to begin the season. After losing potential closer Will Smith to a freak LCL tear, Garza’s injury thins out the pitching depth a bit more and also eliminates the possibility of the once-excellent veteran rebuilding some trade stock with a strong early showing. While Garza could, of course, do so upon his return in what appears to be May or June (based on the presented timetable), he already has a fairly lengthy injury history under his belt, and a recent shoulder issue won’t do his stock any favors come July even if he’s pitching well. Last season, Garza struggled to a career-worst 5.63 ERA in 148 2/3 innings.

Garza is entering the third season of a four-year, $50MM contract with Milwaukee which also contains a complex fifth-year option that is largely dependent on the health of his right arm. (The $5MM club option turns into a $13MM vesting option if Garza throws 110 games over the course of the contract’s first four seasons but also shrinks to just a $1MM option if he spends more than 130 days of a season on the disabled list.) The Brewers owe Garza a combined $25MM between the 2016 and 2017 seasons, which is spread out evenly by annual salaries of $12.5MM.

In further injury news, the Brewers have also lost bullpen candidate Yhonathan Barrios to shoulder surgery, as McCalvy tweets. The 24-year-old Barrios, acquired from the Pirates last summer in exchange for Aramis Ramirez, had his rotator cuff repaired by renowned surgeon Dr. James Andrews. Barrios made his big league debut with the Brewers in 2015, firing 6 2/3 scoreless innings out of the ’pen. In that brief but dominant cameo, Barrios allowed just three hits and no walks while averaging 96.4 mph on his heater and striking out seven hitters. His minor league work wasn’t quite as impressive, however; Barrios logged a solid 2.83 ERA in 60 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A, but the hard-throwing righty also averaged just 5.5 strikeouts against 3.3 walks per nine innings pitched.

NL Central Notes: Cubs, Nolin, Torres, Pirates

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The Cubs never made the big offseason deal to acquire a starting pitcher that many expected of them, but president of baseball operations Theo Epstein tells Patrick Mooney of CSN Chicago that his team will be ready to pounce on a deal should the right opportunity present itself during the season. “We built in a little bit of room for in-season,” says Epstein. “We built in some (budget) flexibility, but I wouldn’t expect a very aggressive winter next year. I think we’ve been open about the fact that we really did two offseasons worth of spending and acquisitions in one winter, knowing that we like the players available this winter more than next winter.” Epstein also tells Mooney that any trade in which he surrenders young talent would have to land someone that fits “both for now and probably for the long-term if it’s going to be a bigger deal.”

Here’s more from the NL Central…

  • Brewers lefty Sean Nolin has been officially diagnosed with a UCL sprain and not an elbow strain, GM David Stearns told reporters, including MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy (Twitter link). Nolin will rehab the injury for the next six weeks before making a decision on Tommy John surgery. Milwaukee picked up Nolin from the A’s this offseason and had expected to use him in the ’pen prior to his injury.
  • Via the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s Tom Haudricourt (Twitter link), Stearns also revealed that he had interest in signing right-hander Carlos Torres earlier this offseason upon his release from the Mets. Torres, however, inked a minor league contract with the Braves and headed to camp with Atlanta. While the Brewers weren’t prepared to offer a big league deal at the time, they clearly had a change of heart late in camp, as Milwaukee signed Torres to a Major League pact over the weekend after he opted out of his deal with Atlanta. The Brew Crew can control Torres through 2018 via the arbitration process if he excels in his new environs.
  • While many Pirates fans have focused on the losses of Neil Walker, Pedro Alvarez and second-half surprise J.A. Happ this offseason, Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that not enough emphasis has been placed on retaining an expensive closer in Mark Melancon — a decision that kept a dominant Pirates relief corps intact. Cook spoke to GM Neal Huntington about the decision to hold onto his All-Star closer. “I know first-hand,” Huntington told Cook. “One year I was with Cleveland, we lost more late leads in a month than most teams do all season. I know that’s hard to come back from. That’s a big part of our decision to keep Mark.” Huntington said that he never got any offers to his liking for Melancon this winter and didn’t see many ways to effectively reallocate the $9.65MM Melancon earned in arbitration to definitively improve the 2016 club. Notably, he discussed the loss of Happ and explained that part of the reason the front office felt Happ was so successful was that he was asked to throw more than six innings just once with the Bucs — due in large part to Pittsburgh’s strong bullpen.

Brewers Sign Carlos Torres

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10:49am: The Brewers have announced that they’ve signed Torres to a one-year big-league deal. To make room on the 40-man roster, they’ve moved outfielder Rymer Liriano (face) to the 60-day DL. To clear active roster space, they optioned Cravy to Triple-A Colorado Springs and placed Knebel on the 15-day DL with an oblique strain. The move seemingly sets the Brewers’ bullpen with Torres, Jeffress, Blazek, Thornburg, Capuano, Boyer and Pena.

8:37am: Righty Carlos Torres is “expected to sign” with the Brewers, 1500ESPN’s Darren Wolfson tweets. SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweeted yesterday that Torres was attracting plenty of interest and seemed likely to get a big-league deal.

Earlier this week, Torres opted out of his minor-league deal with the Braves. The 33-year-old is coming off three useful years with the Mets in which he posted a 3.59 ERA, 8.2 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9, pitching mostly out of the bullpen but occasionally also making starts (although he did not start at all last season).

That kind of versatility could prove helpful to any number of teams, but particularly a team like the Brewers, who aren’t outstanding in either the rotation or the bullpen. The Brewers recently lost closer Will Smith to an LCL tear, and starter Matt Garza recently left a spring game with shoulder soreness (although Garza’s injury does not appear serious), so the flexibility someone like Torres could provide could turn out to be helpful. The Brewers’ bullpen currently features Jeremy Jeffress, Michael Blazek, Tyler Thornburg, Corey Knebel and veterans Chris Capuano and Blaine Boyer, along with either Tyler Cravy or Ariel Pena.

Alex Presley Will Not Make Brewers, Has 48-Hour Window To Be Added Elsewhere

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Alex Presley has been told he will not make the Brewers’ Opening Day roster, MLBTR has learned. There will now be a 48-hour period in which other teams can decide whether they want to add Presley to their active rosters, and if someone does, the Brewers must allow him to depart or assign him to their own active roster.

Presley hit well in Spring Training while competing for a Brewers outfield job as a non-roster invitee, batting .289/.396/.556 in 53 plate appearances, but the Brewers’ decision indicates that they prefer Keon Broxton and Kirk Nieuwenhuis, with whom he was competing for two available outfield jobs. Presley is a career .259/.299/.393 hitter in parts of six seasons with the Pirates, Twins and Astros. He played briefly for Houston last season, spending most of the year with Triple-A Fresno.

NL Notes: Reds’ Medicals, Henderson, Heisey, Gott, Nolin

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Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer has penned an interesting piece on the process for evaluating medicals in prospective trades — a matter that has taken on increasingly public significance with several recent swaps blown up after agreement was reportedly reached in principle. He chats at length with Reds orthopedist Dr. Timothy Kremchek and GM Dick Williams about the “streamlined” but still-nuanced assessment of player health in finalizing trades. “You’re hearing more about the ones that don’t happen,” Williams explained. “I do think because the technology is better. In the old days, it’s like, ‘Well, he has a sore elbow, but I’m sure it’ll be fine by spring.’ Now they’re taking scans and x-rays and you’re getting a lot more detail. There’s a lot more opportunity for interpretation. The dollars have gotten so much bigger that doctors don’t want to be the scapegoat.” The article is well worth a full read.

Of course, Williams also chatted recently with MLBTR about quite a different topic — his time at the University of Virginia. (As a fellow U.Va. alum, that made for an especially interesting trip down memory lane.) Here’s the latest from the National League:

  • Righty Jim Henderson has cracked the Mets’ Opening Day roster, as the team announced and ESPNNewYork.com’s Adam Rubin reports. Once a late-inning reliever, Henderson has struggled with shoulder injuries in recent years, but impressed this spring by allowing just two earned runs on eight hits and one walk while striking out 13 over 10 2/3 frames. Meanwhile, lefty Sean Gilmartin — who had a strong season in the pen as a Rule 5 pick last year — has been optioned down to Triple-A. Logan Verrett will instead make the roster and function as New York’s longman.
  • Outfielder Chris Heisey will take a reserve role with the Nationals out of camp, Devan Fink first reported on Twitter. A 40-man spot was cleared by adding TJ rehabber Aaron Barrett to the 60-day DL.
  • Meanwhile, Blake Treinen appears to have beaten out Sean Burnett and Trevor Gott for the final pen role, James Wagner of the Washington Post tweets. Burnett is set to opt out of his deal, and the team has announced that Gott was optioned. What’s surprising isn’t so much that Treinen made the pen — he has an impressive arsenal and nice spring under his belt — but that Matt Belisle took the spot that had seemed destined to go to Gott. It’s not as if he had rough camp, as he finished with three earned runs on his tab over nine innings, allowing nine hits and two walks while recording five strikeouts. Though he generated quite a few grounders last year with the Angels, Gott only struck out 5.1 batters per nine, and he could certainly stand to add some polish to his curve to develop another pitch to go with a 96.1 mph heater. Gott enters the year with 114 days of service on his ledger, so a sufficiently lengthy minor league stint could also buy the club another year of control. He could eventually join Barrett, Treinen, and lefty Felipe Rivero in a young, cheap, high-powered pen corps of the future.
  • Brewers manager Craig Counsell says that lefty Sean Nolin has been diagnosed with a “significant” injury to his UCL, MLB.com’s Chris Abshire reports. There had been some suggestion that Nolin had avoided a ligament issue, but today’s news seemingly puts a lengthier absence on the table. A final prognosis will await a second opinion, though, so the 26-year-old’s fate remains to be seen. Nolin, who was claimed off waivers from the A’s over the winter, had been competing for a pen spot before he was shut down a few weeks ago.

NL Notes: Jansen, Sky Sox, Braves

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Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen won’t discuss an extension during the season, which means he’s highly likely to test free agency next winter, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times writes. Jansen says there are currently no discussions between the two sides. “I’m not going to talk about it,” he says. “I’ll just want to talk about that in October.” The Dodgers reportedly did not discuss a long-term contract with Jansen while they were reaching their arbitration-avoiding $10.65MM deal with him in January. As MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk pointed out at the time, top Dodgers exec Andrew Friedman tended to focus on cheaper relief pitching when he was with the Rays. The Dodgers do, however, have a much bigger budget, despite their relatively thrifty offseason, and their interest in Aroldis Chapman before revelations of his domestic violence issue this past winter perhaps indicates somewhat of a willingness to pay heavily for a top reliever. Jansen certainly fits into the “top reliever” category, given his 2.41 ERA with a spectacular 13.8 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9 last year and his long track record of success. Here’s more from the National League.

  • The Colorado Springs Sky Sox, currently the Brewers’ Triple-A affiliate, will soon meet with San Antonio’s city council to discuss potential plans to move the franchise there, Brent Briggeman of the Colorado Springs Gazette writes. “If the City of San Antonio, the 37th largest TV market in the country, calls and says they would like to talk about a downtown stadium and the possibility of bringing Triple-A Baseball to San Antonio, it would be imprudent as business owners not to listen,” say the Sky Sox in a statement. The move would, apparently, be contingent upon San Antonio building a downtown ballpark appropriate for Triple-A baseball. The Elmore Sports Group, which owns the Sky Sox, also owns the Double-A San Antonio Missions, currently a Padres affiliate. The Sky Sox have been in Colorado Springs for nearly three decades, serving as the Rockies’ longtime Triple-A home most of that time before a recent switch to the Brewers.
  • Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez expresses concern about the team’s bullpen in a three-part Q+A with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s David O’Brien (1, 2, 3). Gonzalez expresses confidence in the ability of both Arodys Vizcaino and Jason Grilli to close, and expresses a level of comfort with veterans Jim Johnson and Eric O’Flaherty. He does, however, hope that the team can improve its performance in the middle innings this season. Gonzalez says he doesn’t feel any more pressure than usual given that this will be the Braves’ last season in Turner Field before moving into a new ballpark next year. “I think you can do both – I think you can develop [young players] and I think you can win games,” he says. “I’m not going to say we’re going to go out and win 110 games or any of that crazy stuff, but as far as pressure I don’t feel any different from any other year.”
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