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Rockies Acquire Corey Oswalt From Phillies For Cash Considerations

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The Rockies have acquired Triple-A right-hander Corey Oswalt from the Phillies in exchange for cash considerations, per The Athletic’s Matt Gelb (via Twitter).

Oswalt was drafted by the Mets in the seventh round of the June draft back in 2012. He worked his way through the system and made his Major League debut with New York back in 2018 as a 24-year-old. By the time he made his debut, he was the Mets’ 16th-ranked prospect, per Baseball America.

He made 12 starts and five relief appearances en route to totaling 64 2/3 innings in his rookie season, but only received spot time in the bigs since then, never making more than a handful of appearances. He did, however, appear in each of the last four campaigns with the Mets, and they remain the only professional organization he has appeared with in the bigs. In total, Oswalt owns a 5.89 ERA/5.39 FIP at the game’s highest level.

He started this season with the Giants Triple-A affiliate before the Phillies purchased his contract. Between the two clubs, the now-28-year-old Oswalt posted a 6.11 ERA over 35 1/3 innings. With the Rockies, he should have a clearer path to Major League innings.

Guardians Claim Oscar Mercado, Designate Yohan Ramirez

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The Guardians have announced that they claimed outfielder Oscar Mercado off waivers from the Phillies, with right-hander Yohan Ramirez being designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

It’s a quick return to Cleveland for Mercado, as the Guardians just designated him for assignment on June 21. He was claimed by the Phillies on June 27 before being designated for assignment again on July 1 and now being claimed and becoming a Guardian yet again.

Cleveland fans are likely familiar with the trajectory by now, with Mercado giving a tantalizing debut in 2019 but disappointing results since then. In that 2019 campaign, Mercado hit 15 homers and stole 15 bags, putting up a batting line of .269/.318/.443. Combined with his defensive contributions, he was worth 2.2 wins above replacement that year, according to FanGraphs.

Given that he was just 24 years old at the time, it seemed reasonable to expect that might have just been the tip of the iceberg, with even better results to come as he matured. Unfortunately, the opposite has happened, with Mercado putting up a line of .198/.254/.330 in the 2 1/2 seasons since then, a line that amounts to a wRC+ of 60.

After those tepid results, Cleveland seemingly gave up on him a couple weeks ago but has had a quick change of heart. It seemed possible that the Phillies would give him a real shot, given their troubles in the outfield. Though perhaps they were only interested in trying to pass him through waivers to be stashed as extra depth. Whatever their intentions, his stay in Philly has concluded after just a single plate appearance.

As for Ramirez, 27, he was an Astros prospect until Seattle nabbed him in the 2019 Rule 5 draft. He stuck with the Mariners through the shortened 2020 season, throwing 20 2/3 innings with a 2.61 ERA despite walking 21.3% of the batters he faced. In 2021, he logged another 27 2/3 innings at the big league level with a 3.90 ERA, 30.7% strikeout rate, 10.5% walk rate and 34.4% ground ball rate. He couldn’t sustain that this year, however, as his ERA shot up to 7.56 in 8 1/3 innings with the Mariners.

He was designated for assignment and eventually traded to Cleveland for cash considerations. The Guardians gave him just a single appearance at the big league level but 10 1/3 innings in Triple-A. His 4.35 ERA with Columbus isn’t awful, but that’s come despite an alarming 22.7% walk rate. The 27-year-old still has options and intriguing strikeout numbers. He could garner interest from other clubs, especially if any of them think they can help him with his control issues. The Guardians will have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers.

Dodgers Designate Ian Gibaut For Assignment

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The Dodgers announced to reporters, including Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, a few roster moves prior to today’s game. One of them is the previously reported return of outfielder Mookie Betts from the injured list. Left-hander David Price was reinstated from the family medical emergency list. In corresponding moves, Eddy Alvarez was optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City, while righty Ian Gibaut was designated for assignment.

Gibaut’s name has been filling up transaction logs in recent days, as he had his contract selected by the Guardians on June 27, was designated for assignment on June 28, claimed off waivers by the Dodgers on June 30 and now designated for assignment again today. He was able to make one scoreless appearance for the Guardians during that brief time on the squad, but now departs the Dodgers’ roster without getting into a game.

Through 19 2/3 Triple-A innings this season, he has a 3.20 ERA, 24.1% strikeout rate, 10.1% walk rate and 51% ground ball rate. Those results were intriguing enough for the 28-year-old to get a brief look with the Guardians and a passing glance from the Dodgers, indicating it’s likely he’ll now garner interest from other clubs looking for fresh arms. The Dodgers will have one week to work out a trade or pass him through waivers. Gibaut has previously been outrighted in his career and would be eligible to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency.

Padres Select Tayler Scott, Designate Kyle Tyler

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The Padres have selected the contract of right-hander Tayler Scott. Lefty Ray Kerr will be optioned to create a spot for Scott on the active roster. Righty Kyle Tyler has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move.

This will be Scott’s first major league action since 2019, his only previous season in the bigs. He logged 16 1/3 innings that year between the Mariners and the Orioles, though was tattooed in that small sample to a 14.33 ERA. After that, he spent the next two seasons in Japan, suiting up for the Hiroshima Carp of Nippon Professional Baseball in 2020 and 2021.

He signed a minor league deal with the Padres in February and is having a nice season in Triple-A. Through 31 innings for El Paso, he has a 3.48 ERA, 28.7% strikeout rate, 6.2% walk rate and 45.8% ground ball rate. The Friars will now give the 30-year-old a chance to see if he can carry any of that over to the big league level.

As for Tyler, this is the sixth time he’s been designated for assignment this year. The incredible sequence of events started in March, when the Angels designated him for the first time. From there, he was claimed and quickly re-designated by the Red Sox, Padres, Angels and then the Padres again. On that fifth time, he cleared waivers and was outrighted by the Friars. Three days later, he was selected back to the big league team and has now received DFA #6. In the midst of all of that, he’s managed to throw four scoreless innings in the majors, along with 21 2/3 innings at Triple-A with a 4.98 ERA. If the previous months are any indication, he will surely garner attention from other clubs. The Padres will have one week to trade him or put him back on the waiver wire.

Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reported Scott’s promotion and Kerr’s option before the official announcement.

Pirates Acquire Manny Banuelos

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Pirates’ general manager Ben Cherington has informed reporters, including Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic, that the club has acquired left-hander Manny Banuelos from the Yankees for cash considerations. No corresponding move will be necessary as the Pirates already had a vacancy on their 40-man roster.

Banuelos, 31, was in the Yankees’ system as far back as 2008, when he was just 17 years old. He was long-considered one of the best prospects in the system, appearing on Baseball America’s list of the top 30 Yankee youngsters for seven straight years from 2009 to 2015. That was despite missing the entirety of the 2013 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

In 2015, he was traded to Atlanta for David Carpenter and Chasen Shreve and made his MLB debut that year, though injuries limited him to just 26 1/3 innings. He then bounced around the minors for a few seasons, pitching in the systems of the Braves, Angels, Dodgers and White Sox. The Pale Hose gave him his second MLB opportunity, as Banuelos threw 50 2/3 innings for them in 2019, though he underwhelmed with a 6.93 ERA in that time.

In 2020 and 2021, he took his journeyman status to another level, signing with the Mariners, before joining the Fubon Guardians of the Chinese Professional Baseball League and then the Sultanes de Monterrey of the Mexican League.

In January, the Yankees signed him to a minor league deal, bringing him back to the organization where his career began. Banuelos pitched well in Triple-A, throwing 30 2/3 innings with a 2.35 ERA, 24.2% strikeout rate, 9.7% walk rate and 45.6% ground ball rate. Based on that strong performance, he finally got the call to join the Yankees after so many twists and turns.

He spent just over a month with the big league team, faring quite well in 8 1/3 innings. He has a 2.16 ERA on the season so far, along with a 22.9% strikeout rate, 8.6% walk rate and 62.5% ground ball rate in that small sample. Despite that solid showing, Banuelos lost his roster spot last week, likely due to the fact that he’s out of options.

Despite his long and winding career, Banuelos has only accrued about two years of MLB service time. That makes him a fairly sensible pickup for the Pirates. If he can sustain any of the promising results he’s shown so far this year, they can retain him well into the future, when they will surely hope to be more competitive than they are at the moment. He makes a lot of sense in the short term as well, given the club’s current bullpen situation. With Anthony Banda recently being DFA’d and traded to the Blue Jays, that left Cam Vieaux as the only southpaw in the club’s bullpen. The team leaned hard on Vieaux in mop-up duty recently, as he was sent out to pitch the eighth inning on Friday with the club down 9-1. The Pirates let him take a shellacking to save the rest of their arms, as he ended up throwing 56 pitches in a single inning of work, allowing eight runs (seven earned). The addition of Banuelos will give them a fresh arm from the south side to insert in their relief mix.

Angels Select Michael Stefanic, Designate Tyler Wade For Assignment

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The Angels announced that they have selected the contract of infielder Michael Stefanic. Infielder Tyler Wade has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move.

Stefanic, 26, was signed by the Angels as an undrafted free agent back in 2018. Since then, he has worked his way up the minor league ladder, garnering attention for his contact and on-base abilities, though without offering much in the power department. In 46 games at Triple-A this year, he’s hit just a single home run but has a 11.9% walk rate against just a 5.7% strikeout rate. That’s resulted in a slash line of .320/.410/.399, 113 wRC+. He did manage 16 homers at Triple-A last year, but that’s the outlier on his ledger, as he’s never hit more than three in any other season of his career.

Despite that lack of power, the contact skills have been enough to garner some attention from prospect evaluators. Baseball America considered Stefanic the 14th-best prospect in the system in their most recent update, with FanGraphs currently ranking him 26th and comparing him to Nick Madrigal.

Defensively, Stefanic is ticketed for utility duty, as he’s played every infield position, as well as brief appearances in the outfield corners. However, the reports from both BA and FG note that he’s not an excellent defender anywhere, not even his primary position of second base.

For the Angels, they’re likely interested in taking that tradeoff, as they’ve had poor production from their non-first-base infielders this year. The infield group was weak on paper coming into the season and has since lost David Fletcher, Matt Duffy and Anthony Rendon to the IL, with Rendon’s injury being season-ending. As a result, the club’s overall second base output comes in at .227/.276/.308. That amounts to a wRC+ of 67, placing them 25th in the majors in that regard. Adding a bat-first player like Stefanic will hopefully give a boost to the offensive production from the dirt.

Stefanic is the second recent addition to the Angels’ infield, as the club signed Jonathan Villar yesterday. The two of them will bolster a group that consists of Luis Rengifo, Andrew Velazquez and David MacKinnon to cover second base, third base and shortstop. The club is 37-43, six games back of a playoff spot in the American League. With the August 2 trade deadline now less than a month away, they will surely be hoping for a solid stretch of play to get themselves into a firmer buyer position before then.

As for Wade, he was traded from the Yankees to the Angels in November of last year. During his time in the Bronx, he earned a reputation as a glove-first player, hitting .212/.298/.307 for a wRC+ of 68. Despite that lackluster offensive production, he was at least a valuable bench player given his versatility, lining up at second base, third base, shortstop and all three outfield positions. Although Wade changed uniforms, his game stayed largely the same this season. He has taken the field at those six positions again this year, while hitting .218/.272/.272 for a wRC+ of 57. The Angels are apparently looking for a little more thump in their lineup, swapping out a glove-first player for a bat-first one.

Wade surpassed three years of MLB service time last year, allowing him to qualify for arbitration for the first time. He and the Angels agreed to a salary of $825K, just a bit north of the $700K league minimum. The Angels will have one week to trade him or put him through waivers. Should he clear waivers, he would be eligible to reject an outright assignment and return to free agency, by virtue of having surpassed three years’ service time. However, doing so would mean forfeiting the remainder of his salary, as players need more than five years’ service to reject an assignment while still being guaranteed the money owed to them through their contracts.

J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group reported the selection of Stefanic prior to the official announcement (Twitter links). Wade also revealed his DFA to reporters, including Sam Blum of the Athletic, prior to the announcement.

Guardians Select Alex Young, Designate Kirk McCarty For Assignment

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The Guardians announced to reporters, including Zack Meisel of The Athletic, a series of roster moves. Right-hander James Karinchak has been recalled to the active roster, while left-hander Alex Young has had his contract selected. In corresponding moves, lefty Anthony Gose was placed on the injured list with a left triceps strain, Anthony Castro was optioned to Triple-A and lefty Kirk McCarty was designated for assignment. (The Guardians had an active roster of 27 for yesterday’s doubleheader but needed to get it back down to 26 today, which explains why they are adding two players to the roster but subtracting three.)

Young was a second-round draft pick of the Diamondbacks in 2015, making his MLB debut with them in 2019. In 83 1/3 innings, he put up an ERA of 3.56, along with a 20.3% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate and 48.1% ground ball rate. Things went the wrong direction in subsequent seasons, however, as Young’s ERA jumped up to 5.44 in 2020 and then 6.26 with the DBacks in 2021. He was designated for assignment and claimed by Cleveland last year, putting up a 7.84 ERA with them in 10 1/3 innings after the claim.

In November, the Guardians made a huge roster overhaul prior to the Rule 5 draft, selecting ten players and designating seven for assignment. Young was one of those in the latter group, eventually clearing waivers and staying in the organization. He’s made 27 relief appearances for the Triple-A Columbus Clippers this season and has fared quite well. He has an ERA of 3.14, along with a 37.1% strikeout rate, 5.2% walk rate and 46.9% ground ball rate. Based on that successful run, he’ll get another crack at the majors.

McCarty, 26, was selected to the big league club in April, making it to the MLB level for the first time. He’s thrown 12 innings in the show, but with an unfortunate ERA of 9.00 in that sample. He’s fared much better in Triple-A, with a 3.77 ERA in 43 innings, but the club has decided to risk losing him. The Guardians are in the midst of a particularly gruelling portion of their schedule, after Friday’s game was rained out, leading to a doubleheader yesterday. Since they also have a doubleheader to play against the Tigers tomorrow, that means they are playing five games in three days, with two more games before the next off-day. Due to the need for fresh arms, it seems the collateral damage is McCarty losing his roster spot. The team will have seven days to trade him or put him through waivers.

Brewers Reinstate Pedro Severino

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The Brewers announced that they have reinstated catcher Pedro Severino from the restricted list. To create space on the active roster. Outfielder Tyrone Taylor has been placed on the seven-day concussion IL, retroactive to July 2. The club already had a vacancy on the 40-man roster, meaning no corresponding move was required in that regard.

Severino spent the past three years with the Orioles but was non-tendered at the end of last season. The Brewers signed him in November to a one-year, $1.9MM deal, hoping that the right-handed-hitting Severino could form a platoon with the left-handed-hitting Omar Narvaez. However, in early April, Severino was given an 80-game suspension after failing a PED test. Severino didn’t challenge the results, admitting that the presence of Clomiphene in his system was due to fertility treatments he was undergoing in the Dominican Republic.

Knowing that they would be without Severino for an extended stretch, the club bolstered the catching position by trading for Victor Caratini and Alex Jackson. Jackson has been on the shelf for about a month with a sprained finger, but the Brewers still have a three-catcher situation now, with Severino, Caratini and Narvaez. Caratini has stepped up admirably and is hitting .248/.375/.448 this year for a wRC+ of 132. That might make it hard for Severino to force his way back into the mix.

“We’re going to have to be creative a little bit,” manager Craig Counsell told Adam McCalvy of MLB.com about the logjam. “Look, the two guys we’ve got are playing really well. That’s going to factor into it as well.” Severino played a few games at first base during his rehab, but it doesn’t seem like Plan A will involve a lot of time there for him. “I don’t think initially he will be a big option,” Counsell said. “We’ll continue to have him do some work there, and if we get to a situation where we need it, he’ll be a guy with some experience there.”

Due to his suspension, Severino is ineligible to play in the postseason. However, if he plays well for the remainder of the season, he can be retained for next year via arbitration.

Tigers Select Garrett Hill

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The Tigers announced that they have selected the contract of right-handed pitcher Garrett Hill. He will take the active roster spot of fellow righty Rony Garcia, who has been placed on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder soreness, retroactive to June 30. To create space on the 40-man roster, Matt Manning has been transferred to the 60-day IL.

Hill, 26, was selected by the Tigers in the 26th round of the 2018 draft. Since then, he’s climbed the rungs of the minor league ladder, racking up strikeouts at each level along the way. He started this year at Double-A and made seven starts for the SeaWolves. In that time, he struck out 40.9% of the batters he faced, walking 7.9% of them and getting grounders at a 33.3% clip.

Based on those strong results, he was moved up to Triple-A and made eight starts for the Mud Hens. The higher level of competition naturally resulted in lesser results, though Hill still fared well. His Triple-A ERA is 4.06, along with a 28.7% strikeout rate, 9.4% walk rate and 32.6% ground ball rate. Baseball America ranked him the #21 prospect in the system as part of a recent update. The Tigers’ plan is for Hill to start one of the games in tomorrow’s doubleheader against the Guardians, which will be his MLB debut.

Detroit was supposed to have their rotation as a strength this year but have seen a litany of injuries derail that plan. Casey Mize underwent Tommy John surgery and is out for the rest of the year, joining Spencer Turnbull, who underwent the procedure last year. Matt Manning has only made two starts due to shoulder issues. Eduardo Rodriguez made eight starts before landing on the IL and then the restricted list due to a personal matter. Michael Pineda spent about six weeks on the IL as well, but has since returned. Now Rony Garcia is the latest starter to land on the shelf.

Due to all of that, the Tigers have leaned hard on their starting depth this year, giving MLB debuts to pitchers such as Beau Brieske, Alex Faedo, Elvin Rodriguez and Joey Wentz, with Hill now stepping up as the next rookie to get a shot.

The move for Manning is strictly procedural as he’s been on the IL for over 60 days already. He will be eligible to return as soon as his health allows, though he will need to be added back onto the 40-man roster at that time. He is close to starting a rehab assignment but will need some time to build back up into game shape.

Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press reported Hill’s promotion before the official announcement.

Rays Select Cristofer Ogando

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The Rays announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Cristofer Ogando and optioned fellow right-hander Ralph Garza Jr. in a corresponding move. The club already had a vacancy on their 40-man roster, though Brooks Raley and Ryan Thompson are currently on the restricted list due to their unvaccinated status preventing them from traveling to Toronto for this weekend’s series. Javy Guerra was selected to take one of the vacated spots and Ogando will now take the other. Once the team is in Boston for tomorrow’s game, they will have to remove two players from the roster.

Ogando, 28, has taken a long road to the big leagues. He made his debut in affiliated ball back in 2013 as part of the Marlins organization. Just 19 years old at the time, he threw 6 1/3 innings in Rookie ball but then didn’t appear in the affiliated ranks over the next few seasons. He was signed by the Diamondbacks in 2018 and pitched well enough that the Rays selected him in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft in December of that year.

He’s been in the Rays organization ever since, climbing his way from A-ball to Triple-A. This year, he’s thrown 32 2/3 innings for the Durham Bulls with a 3.03 ERA, 25.2% strikeout rate, 8.7% walk rate and 34.2% ground ball rate. He will make his MLB debut as soon as he gets into a game.

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