Angels Moves: Ramirez, Jay
The Angels announced that right-handed reliever Noe Ramirez has cleared waivers and elected free agency. The Halos also outrighted outfielder Jon Jay, who will go to Triple-A Salt Lake, J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group tweets.
The Angels designated Ramirez for assignment on Sunday, less than a week after selecting his contract on May 11. The 31-year-old, also a former Red Sox, has appeared in the majors with the Angels in each season since 2017. The Angels traded him to the Reds last winter in a deal revolving around fellow reliever Raisel Iglesias, but Cincinnati quickly cut ties with Ramirez, who then re-signed with the Halos. He has recorded a 4.20 ERA/3.74 SIERA with a 25.4 percent strikeout rate against an 8.8 percent walk rate in 214 1/3 major league innings, including 3 1/3 frames this season.
The Angels have designated Jay for assignment twice since April. The 36-year-old has only totaled 14 plate appearances with the club this season, though he may be more likely to receive an extended chance with center fielder Mike Trout battling a calf strain that will keep him out until at least July.
Mets Place Kevin Pillar On IL, Select Wilfredo Tovar, Designate Deivy Grullon
5:27pm: Pillar will undergo plastic surgery on his broken nose in the near future, Thosar tweets. He’ll resume baseball activities 10 to 14 days after that.
3:28pm: The Mets have placed outfielder Kevin Pillar on the 10-day injured list, selected infielder Wilfredo Tovar and designated catcher Deivy Grullon for assignment, per Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News.
Pillar’s IL placement comes as no surprise after the 32-year-old suffered multiple nasal fractures on a hit by pitch on Monday. He’s now among a slew of Mets position players on the IL, though, joining Brandon Nimmo, J.D. Davis, Jeff McNeil, Michael Conforto, Albert Almora, Luis Guillorme and Jose Martinez.
The 29-year-old Tovar is in his second stint as a member of the Mets, with whom he spent 2008-15 and then rejoined on a minor league contract this past offseason. Tovar has totaled just 110 major league plate appearances (22 with the Mets and then 88 with the Angels in 2019) and batted .188/.241/.238 without a home run. He’s a .277/.325/.368 hitter with 19 home runs over 2,054 PA in Triple-A ball.
Grullon, 25, latched on with the Mets when they claimed him off waivers from the Rays on April 28. He didn’t appear in the bigs with the Mets, instead amassing 42 PA with their Triple-A team and slashing .146/.167/.341 with a pair of home runs, before they designated him. Grullon picked up a combined 13 PA with the Phillies and Red Sox from 2019-20.
Mets Acquire Cameron Maybin
4:56pm: The Mets gave up a dollar for Maybin, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post. The Cubs weren’t going to prevent Maybin from getting another major league opportunity, which he should soon receive with the Mets.
4:07pm: The Mets have acquired outfielder Cameron Maybin from the Cubs, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets. The Cubs will receive cash in return, according to Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News.
Maybin will provide some much-needed depth to a New York outfield that is dealing with some key injuries. The club placed Kevin Pillar on the IL on Monday as a result of multiple nasal fractures. The Mets are also without Michael Conforto and Brandon Nimmo, among other outfield-capable members of their lineup.
Maybin, now 34 years old, has seen action with nine major league teams since the Tigers chose him 10th overall in the 2005 draft. He has hit .256/.324/.376 with 72 home runs and 186 stolen bases in 4,218 plate appearances, but he put up a worse .247/.308/.387 line with one HR over 101 PA between the Cubs and Tigers a season ago. The Cubs re-signed Maybin to a minor league contract in the offseason, and he batted .103/.186/.205 in 43 trips to the plate with their Triple-A affiliate prior to the trade.
Twins Designate Derek Law For Assignment
The Twins have recalled right-hander Cody Stashak and designated fellow righty Derek Law for assignment, per Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News previously reported on Law’s DFA). The team also placed righty Shaun Anderson on the 10-day injured list with a quad strain.
Law, whom the Twins signed to a minor league contract in the winter, didn’t last long on their 40-man roster. Minnesota selected Law on May 8, after which he tossed 6 1/3 innings of 11-hit, six-run ball with nine strikeouts against six walks.
The 30-year-old Law previously pitched with the Giants and Blue Jays from 2016-19. He owns a 4.38 ERA with a 22.5 percent strikeout rate and a 10.0 percent walk rate in 172 2/3 major league innings.
Giants Move Tommy La Stella To 60-Day IL, Claim Trevor Hildenberger
The Giants have moved infielder Tommy La Stella to the 60-day injured list and claimed right-handed reliever Trevor Hildenberger from the Mets, Maria Guardado of MLB.com was among those to report. San Francisco subsequently optioned Hildenberger to Triple-A Sacramento.
La Stella went on the 10-day IL with a left hamstring strain on May 4, and Tuesday’s switch to the 60-day version means he won’t return until at least July. That’s obviously less-than-ideal news for him and the Giants, who signed La Stella to a three-year, $18.75MM contact in free agency. The 32-year-old hit a disappointing .235/.297/.353 with one home run in 75 plate appearances before suffering his injury. The Giants have relied on Wilmer Flores and Mauricio Dubon at the keystone in La Stella’s place, but they should soon reinstate Donovan Solano, who has been on the IL with a calf strain since April 22.
Hildenberger, 30, threw just 2 1/3 innings with the Mets this year before they designated him for assignment last weekend. Also a former Twin, Hildenberger has pitched to a 5.52 ERA (with a much more encouraging 3.60 SIERA) and recorded a 22.5 percent strikeout rate, a 7.1 percent walk rate and a 48.4 percent groundball rate over 133 2/3 frames in the bigs.
Royals Place Danny Duffy On 10-Day IL
MAY 18: Duffy told Lynn Worthy of the Kansas City Star and other reporters that he has a Grade 1 strain. He doesn’t expect to miss much time.
MAY 17: The Royals have placed southpaw Danny Duffy on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to May 14) with a left forearm flexor strain, Anne Rogers of MLB.com tweets. They’ll make a corresponding roster move Tuesday.
Whenever the phrase “forearm flexor strain” is used regarding a pitcher, it’s unsettling. So, the Royals can only hope this doesn’t make for a long absence or even Tommy John surgery for Duffy, who has been excellent this season. The 32-year-old has posted an elite 1.94 ERA with a 28.2 percent strikeout rate against a 7.1 percent walk rate over seven starts and 41 2/3 innings.
Duffy is in the final season of his contract, making this year all the more important for him. He’ll close out a five-year, $65MM deal when the season concludes. A Royal since they drafted him in Round 3 in 2007, Duffy owns a 3.95 ERA in 1,153 innings dating back to his 2011 debut.
Brewers Activate Christian Yelich
The Brewers have activated outfielder Christian Yelich from the 10-day injured list and optioned left-hander Hoby Milner to Triple-A Nashville, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets.
Yelich has already been on the IL twice this year on account of back issues, and the Brewers can only hope it won’t happen again. The former NL MVP missed about three weeks during his first stint on the shelf, and one game after he returned, Milwaukee had to put Yelich back on the IL on May 4. Yelich has been in great form when healthy enough to play, having batted .353/.463/.382 in 10 games and 41 plate appearances.
Yelich is the Brewers’ go-to option in left field, but they’ve mostly had to rely on Billy McKinney, Tyrone Taylor and Jackie Bradley Jr. with him unavailable for the majority of the season. All three of them have struggled to varying extents this year.
MLBTR Chat Transcript
Click here to read a transcript of Tuesday’s chat with MLBTR’s Steve Adams.
Orioles Designate Rio Ruiz For Assignment
The Orioles have designated infielder Rio Ruiz for assignment and selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Stevie Wilkerson, per a club announcement.
The 26-year-old Ruiz was a 2012 fourth-rounder of the Astros and a prospect of some note in both the Astros and Braves organizations. Baltimore claimed him off waivers from Atlanta in the 2018-19 offseason and has given him a fairly lengthy look in the infield, but to this point, Ruiz simply hasn’t capitalized on that opportunity.
Dating back to 2019, Ruiz is hitting just .220/.292/.380 through 718 plate appearances. The O’s have given him some run at each infield position other than shortstop, but he hasn’t been able to string together a particularly productive stretch. The 2021 season, in particular, has been a tough one for Ruiz, who is batting just .167/.250/.300 through 101 trips to the plate. The Orioles will have a week to trade Ruiz or pass him through outright waivers.
The 29-year-old Wilkerson is a familiar face for O’s fans, having spent parts of two seasons in a utility role for Baltimore. He’s a a .219/.279/.365 hitter in 410 plate appearances and has played every spot on the diamond other than catcher and first base — including 5 1/3 innings of mop-up duty on the mound in 2019.
Pirates Trade Sean Poppen To Rays
The Rays announced Tuesday that they’ve acquired right-hander Sean Poppen from the Pirates in exchange for cash. Pittsburgh had recently designated Poppen for assignment. Tampa Bay’s 40-man roster is now full.
Poppen has been optioned to Triple-A Durham for the time being but could see some action in the big leagues with his new club before long, given the regularity with which the Rays have shuffle up their pitching mix in recent seasons.
The 27-year-old Poppen has seen time in the Majors in each of the past three seasons (2019-20 with Minnesota, 2021 with Pittsburgh) but hasn’t found much in the way of success. He’s tallied 20 2/3 innings in the bigs but yielded 18 runs (15 earned) on 30 hits and 11 walks with 23 strikeouts. Poppen’s sinker averages 94.4 mph and has resulted in a solid 46.8 percent ground-ball in his limited big league action. He pairs the pitch with a slider and a seldom-used changeup, but none of the three offerings has been particularly effective against MLB opponents.
Poppen has had more success in the minors, where he sports a 3.39 ERA and a strikeout per inning in parts of five professional seasons — mostly as a starting pitcher. All 13 of his MLB appearances to date have come out of the bullpen, but it’s possible the Rays could look to stretch him back out, either as a multi-inning reliever or as a true depth option for the rotation. The Harvard product is a former 19th-round pick who has never been considered to be one of his organization’s top products, but he carries a respectable 3.88 ERA in 65 Triple-A innings.