Mariners Designate John Buck For Assignment
The Mariners have designated veteran catcher John Buck for assignment, according to Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times (Twitter link). He notes in a followup tweet that it seems likely the Mariners will recall Jesus Sucre from Triple-A Tacoma.
Buck, who turned 34 years old Monday, inked a one-year, $1MM contract with the Mariners to serve as the backup to young catcher Mike Zunino. He’s struggled to get on base and hit for average in recent years, but he’d shown good pop until this season with Seattle. In 27 games (92 plate appearances), Buck was hitting just .226/.293/.286 with one home run.
Divish notes that the move likely won’t go over well in the Mariners’ locker room, as Buck was popular among his teammates. He adds, however, that there had been growing concern from the Mariners’ decision-makers over Buck’s receiving and blocking skills with the staff — particularly the team’s harder-throwing pitchers. Indeed, Buck grades out poorly in terms of pitch-framing metrics (per StatCorner.com’s Matthew Carruth and per Baseball Prospectus), although that’s hardly a new trend. Buck had one passed ball on the season and had been behind the dish for 11 wild pitches in just 164 innings, so the Mariners likely felt that some of those could have been blocked.
A veteran of 11 Major League seasons between the Royals, Blue Jays, Marlins, Mets, Pirates and Mariners, Buck is a lifetime .234/.301/.398 hitter.
Indians Acquire Chris Dickerson, Designate George Kottaras
The Indians announced that they have acquired outfielder Chris Dickerson from the Pirates in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations. Dickerson’s contract will be selected for tonight’s game, and George Kottaras has been designated for assignment to create roster space.
The 32-year-old Dickerson has a spotty Major League track record, but he was having an excellent season for Triple-A Indianapolis in the Pirates organization. In 280 plate appearances, Dickerson batted .309/.407/.479 with seven homers and 12 steals.
Dickerson grades out as an excellent defender at all three outfield spots, per Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs Saved — an attribute that likely appealed to Cleveland with Michael Bourn on the shelf for the next three to four weeks due to a hamstring strain. That glove has come along with a questionable bat for much of his career, however, as he’s batted just .233/.275/.361 over his past four stints in the Majors — a span of 287 plate appearances. Dickerson did have a strong start to his big league career with the Reds, however, hitting .283/.383/.440 through his first 421 PA in 2008-09.
The 31-year-old Kottaras has a strong .286/.385/.714 batting line for the Indians this season, though it’s come in a sample of just 27 PA. Nearly all of his production came in his first game with Cleveland, when he went 2-for-3 with a pair of homers. Nonetheless, Kottaras has long been known to have an excellent eye at the plate and some power. The career .216/.326/.415 hitter has 14 percent walk rate in 847 Major League plate appearances, and his .199 isolated power mark (slugging minus batting average) is well above-average for any hitter, let alone a catcher.
Dodgers To Sign Roger Bernadina
The Dodgers have agreed to a minor league deal with outfielder Roger Bernadina, MLB Daily Dish’s Chris Cotillo reports. Bernadina, a client of the All Bases Covered agency, chose to sign with L.A. after receiving offers from multiple other teams.
Bernadina, 30, chose to become a free agent when he refused an outright assignment from the Reds two weeks ago. He signed a minor league deal with Cincinnati during the offseason and posted a .489 OPS over 71 PA, continuing the struggles at the plate that plagued him in 2013. The Dodgers will be Bernadina’s fourth franchise in a two-season span, along with the Reds, Phillies and Nationals.
Astros To Sign Ronny Rafael
The Astros have agreed to sign Dominican outfielder Ronny Rafael to a contract with a $1.5MM bonus, MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez reports (Twitter link). The 20-year-old ranked 20th on MLB.com’s list of top 30 international prospects, while he checked in at 25th on Baseball America’s top-30 list.
A 6’0″, 177-pound product of Santo Domingo, the MLB.com scouting report notes that “some scouts believe Rafael is the perfect mix of power, speed and football-type athleticism” with plus speed and aggressive base-running, the ability to play any of the three outfield positions and good raw power. BA’s scouting report is a little more pessimistic, calling Rafael a “strength-based tools guy who’s still learning feel for the game,” and “a free swinger whose pitch recognition needs work, so his offensive profile projects to be power over OBP.”
Rafael is the third international prospect to sign a seven-figure deal with the Astros, following their $1MM contracts with Franklin Perez and Miguel Sierra. Houston has room to be aggressive since they have the highest international bonus pool of any team in MLB.
2014 All-Star Game Rosters
Here are the 2014 MLB All-Star rosters. They include three players who signed one-year contracts this offseason in Nelson Cruz, Kurt Suzuki and Francisco Rodriguez, along with a minor-league signee in Pat Neshek. Also included are a number of key 2014-15 free agents, including Max Scherzer and Jon Lester.
AL Starters
1B Miguel Cabrera, 2B Robinson Cano, SS Derek Jeter, 3B Josh Donaldson, C Matt Wieters, OF Jose Bautista, OF Mike Trout, OF Adam Jones, DH Nelson Cruz
C Salvador Perez will start in placed of the injured Wieters.
AL Pitchers
Dellin Betances, Mark Buehrle, Yu Darvish, Sean Doolittle, Felix Hernandez, Greg Holland, Scott Kazmir, Jon Lester, Glen Perkins, David Price, Max Scherzer, Masahiro Tanaka
AL Reserves
Jose Abreu, Alexei Ramirez, Jose Altuve, Adrian Beltre, Michael Brantley, Yoenis Cespedes, Edwin Encarnacion, Alex Gordon, Brandon Moss, Derek Norris, Perez, Kurt Suzuki, Victor Martinez
AL Final Vote Candidates
Chris Sale, Corey Kluber, Rick Porcello, Garrett Richards, Dallas Keuchel
NL Starters
1B Paul Goldschmidt, 2B Chase Utley, SS Troy Tulowitzki, 3B Aramis Ramirez, C Yadier Molina, OF Andrew McCutchen, OF Carlos Gomez, OF Yasiel Puig
NL Pitchers
Madison Bumgarner, Aroldis Chapman, Johnny Cueto, Zack Greinke, Francisco Rodriguez, Clayton Kershaw, Craig Kimbrel, Pat Neshek, Tyson Ross, Jeff Samardzija, Julio Teheran, Adam Wainwright, Tony Watson, Jordan Zimmermann
NL Reserves
Charlie Blackmon, Matt Carpenter, Starlin Castro, Todd Frazier, Freddie Freeman, Dee Gordon, Josh Harrison, Jonathan Lucroy, Devin Mesoraco, Daniel Murphy, Hunter Pence, Giancarlo Stanton
NL Final Vote Candidates
Anthony Rizzo, Anthony Rendon, Casey McGehee, Justin Morneau, Justin Upton
Since Samardzija now pitches for an AL team, he will be considered an All-Star but will not be active for the game.
Draft Signings: Gage Hinsz
We’ll keep track of today’s draft signings here.
- The Pirates have agreed to terms with 11th-round pick Gage Hinsz on a $580K deal, MLB.com’s Jim Callis tweets. $480K of Hinsz’s bonus will count against the Pirates’ bonus pool. Hinsz, a high school pitcher from Montana, was committed to Oregon State. The Pirates have now agreed to terms with all of their draft picks through the first 22 rounds.
Red Sox Reluctant To Move Will Middlebrooks
The Red Sox have been receiving decent trade interest in recent days in third baseman Will Middlebrooks, but Red Sox people are said to seem quite reluctant to deal him, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. Middlebrooks is on injury rehab following his slow start in Boston but the Sox seem intent on keeping him past July.
Still only 25, Middlebrooks has power, and it isn’t easy to come by power bats in baseball these days. On top of that, if Middlebrooks can show something in the second half, he could be a piece if the Sox try and make a run at Marlins star Giancarlo Stanton. It would obviously take much more than Middlebrooks to get a deal done, but Miami did have some interest in Middlebrooks last winter. Stanton would provide a huge boost for the Red Sox and Boston can build a package with some of the best prospects in baseball to entice Miami if they make Stanton available over the winter. In 21 games this season, Middlebrooks has hit just .197/.305/.324 with two homers.
Blue Jays Designate Brad Glenn For Assignment
The Blue Jays have designated outfielder Brad Glenn for assignment, SportsNet.ca’s Shi Davidi tweets. The move clears space on the Jays’ active roster for Cole Gillespie, and on their 40-man for Nolan Reimold. Davidi tweets that the Jays will have to make another move to make space for Reimold on their active roster.
Glenn, 27, had appeared in six games for the Blue Jays this season. His .377/.418/.570 line in 122 plate appearances for Triple-A Buffalo this year was almost certainly somewhat fluky, but he showed reasonable offensive ability in his previous minor league stops.
Rockies Designate Raul Fernandez For Assignment
The Rockies have designated pitcher Raul Fernandez for assignment, Troy Renck of the Denver Post tweets. The Rockies also placed pitcher Nick Masset on the disabled list and replaced him on the active roster with Brooks Brown, for whom the Fernandez DFA clears a spot on the 40-man.
Fernandez, 24, had posted a 7.00 ERA with 6.7 K/9 and 5.0 BB/9 in 27 innings for Class A+ Modesto. Fernandez throws hard but has struggled in both the last two seasons.
Blue Jays Claim Nolan Reimold Off Waivers
The Blue Jays have claimed Nolan Reimold off waivers from the Orioles, according to Reimold’s cousin Seamus Doyle (on Twitter). The O’s placed Reimold on waivers last week.
Baltimore was looking at trade options for the outfielder but were unable to find any. Reimold has been hampered by multiple neck surgeries over the last few seasons but has posted a .902 OPS over 17 games on a Double-A rehab assignment.
The 30-year-old was once considered a top 100 prospect but has never been able to realize his potential due to health problems. In parts of five big league campaigns, Reimold owns a .252/.327/.439 slash line.
There are now six players in DFA limbo, as shown in MLBTR’s DFA Tracker.