Padres Claim Hector Sanchez From White Sox
The Padres have claimed catcher Hector Sanchez off waivers from the White Sox, per the MLB.com transactions page. Because he’s out of options, Sanchez will be added to the Major League roster. Left-hander Robbie Erlin was moved to the 60-day disabled list to create room on the 40-man roster.
Sanchez, a 26-year-old switch-hitter, has spent the bulk of his career in the NL West, appearing with the Giants in each of the past five seasons, primarily as a backup to Buster Posey. He picked up eight plate appearances with the White Sox this season, collecting one hit in seven official at-bats, and is a career .238/.273/.348 hitter in 645 plate appearances at the Major League level. He’s also halted 26 percent of opposing stolen base attempts and, dating back to the 2013 season, Baseball Prospectus feels that he’s been slightly above-average in terms of pitch framing.
While Erlin’s transfer to the 60-day DL explains the 40-man portion of the puzzle, it’s not immediately clear how Sanchez fits onto the 25-man roster for the Padres, who have used Derek Norris and Christian Bethancourt behind the plate thus far in the 2016 season. Neither has hit much this season, with Norris in particular struggling to a dismal .167/.213/.275 batting line through his first 108 plate appearances. Bethancourt, meanwhile, has slashed .222/.241/.519 in just 29 plate appearances, but he’s out of minor league options as well, so the Padres wouldn’t be able to send him down without first exposing him to waivers. Norris, it’s worth noting, does have minor league options remaining, but he’s also earning $2.925MM in 2016 after his first trip through the arbitration process this past winter.
Minor MLB Transactions: 5/11/16
Here are the day’s minor moves from around the game…
- Former Brewers outfielder Logan Schafer has signed with the Lancaster Barnstormers of the Atlantic League, the team announced (as Jason Bristol of CBS 21 first reported, on Twitter, yesterday). The 29-year-old Schafer appeared in 268 games with Milwaukee over the past three seasons, hitting .207/.284/.310 in 616 plate appearances during that time. The former third-rounder is capable of playing all three outfield spots and has a career .281/.338/.431 batting line in parts of four seasons at the Triple-A level. Presumably, he’ll look to follow the path that so many former big leaguers have taken: using the independent circuit (the Atlantic League, in particular) as a springboard back into affiliated ball.
- Another former Brewer, first baseman Matt Clark (a former teammate of Schafer), has agreed to a deal with the Orix Buffaloes of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, MLBTR has learned. Clark, 29, saw a brief taste of the Majors in 2014 when he went 5-for-27 with three home runs in 31 plate appearances. That cup of coffee represents his only big league experience to date, but Clark has outstanding numbers in Triple-A, where he’s slashed .294/.366/.511 in 1806 plate appearances. This won’t be his first crack at Japanese ball, either, as Clark spent the 2013 campaign with the Chunichi Dragons, where he batted .238/.328/.457 with 25 home runs in 132 games.
NL East Notes: Harper, Marlins, Ruiz, Braves
Major League Baseball announced today that Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper has been suspended for one game for returning to the field of play after an ejection (during the team’s celebration of a walk-off home run) and subsequently cursing at home plate umpire Brian Knight, who ejected Harper for arguing balls and strikes from the dugout during Danny Espinosa‘s ninth-inning at-bat. Harper is appealing the suspension, and as MLB.com’s Jon Morosi notes (Twitter link), Ian Kinsler won a somewhat similar appeal after he was suspended for a game in 2010 upon returning to the field to celebrate a walk-off home celebration with the Rangers. Kinsler, of course, didn’t fire expletives at the home-plate umpire in his return to the field. All that said, Knight’s decision to eject Harper appears fairly dubious in the first place; manager Dusty Baker told the Washington Post’s Chelsea Janes that the majority of the Nationals’ roster was up on the edge of the dugout letting Knight hear it over what they felt to be an incorrect call (though the pitch, in retrospect, did clip part of the strike zone), and Harper didn’t use any profanity in his initial comments. Harper had been in an argument with Knight earlier in the game, Janes notes.
Elsewhere in the division…
- The Marlins‘ offseason maneuverings have succeeded in beginning to change the organizational culture, writes Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. Most notably, the hiring of manager Don Mattingly and the addition of special assistant Jim Benedict and farm director Marc DelPiano (both from the Pirates organization) has already had a significant impact. Ace Jose Fernandez tells Jackson that Mattingly is “amazing” and says that he is “in love with this team” in large part due to Mattingly’s demeanor and attention to detail. Jeff Mathis and David Phelps each rave about Mattingly as well. Meanwhile, setup man Kyle Barraclough explains that Benedict took him aside to go over video of his mechanics in the minors and smooth out his delivery, which has yielded positive early returns. The club is spending money on minor league facilities and emphasizing fundamentals throughout the lower ranks in ways in which it never has, Jackson writes, helping to facilitate change from top to bottom.
- Carlos Ruiz‘s strong start to the season likely increases his marketability in trades this summer, writes Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer. While Gelb is quick to note that Ruiz, of course, will not net the Phillies a top prospect, the dearth of quality offensive backstops around the league could make Ruiz stand out, particularly for clubs in need of catching help that do not want to meet Milwaukee’s asking price for Jonathan Lucroy. Manager Pete Mackanin feels that decreased playing time has helped the 37-year-old Ruiz realize improved production, as his body isn’t being worn down by the rigors of catching on three or four consecutive days. Gelb notes that Ruiz does have a partial no-trade clause, and perhaps more interestingly, will gain full 10-and-5 rights on July 14 — just over two weeks before the Aug. 1 deadline. That would allow Ruiz to veto any trade proposal, though a move from a rebuilding club to a contender could hold some appeal to the veteran catcher. Ruiz wouldn’t tip his hand one way or another, simply saying he’s “really happy” in Philadelphia but noting that “anything can happen” at the trade deadline.
- Braves GM John Coppolella tells David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution that any of Ozhaino Albies, Rio Ruiz, Dansby Swanson, Lucas Sims and Tyrell Jenkins could be promoted to the Majors this season, describing each prospect as “close” to MLB-ready. Coppolella also acknowledged the issue of manager Fredi Gonzalez’s job security, though he didn’t take a firm stance one way or the other. “My hope, and I don’t know whether or not it’s going to happen, is that Fredi is here to see it,” said Coppolella in reference to the Braves’ return to prominence. “I don’t know that he will be, I don’t know that he won’t be. I want him to succeed. I care about the man personally.”
Marlins Designate Craig Breslow, Select Dustin McGowan
The Marlins have designated southpaw Craig Breslow for assignment, as MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro first reported on Twitter. His roster spot will go to right-hander Dustin McGowan, whose contract was selected from Triple-A.
Breslow, 35, has provided 14 innings to the Miami pen thus far, allowing seven earned runs on 21 hits and four walks while retiring seven batters via strikeout. But Breslow has had several rough outings in which he’s given up multiple runs, including his most recent. And with his 45-day advance consent clause soon due, the Fish obviously decided not to keep his salary on the books for the rest of the season.
As for the 34-year-old McGowan, a fellow minor league signee over the winter, this will represent his second run of the year with the Marlins. He was previously outrighted after 5 1/3 innings. Though he allowed just two earned runs on six hits, McGowan managed only a pair of strikeouts to go with two walks.
Angels Designate Ji-Man Choi
The Angels have designated first baseman/outfielder Ji-Man Choi for assignment, MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez tweets. His active roster spot was needed for the activation of righty Matt Shoemaker, though his 40-man slot will presumably go to just-acquired right-hander Jhoulys Chacin.
Choi received his first chance at the majors this year with the Halos, but has just one hit in 24 plate appearances. He does have six walks, though, leaving him with a rather unusual .056/.292/.056 slash line.
Prior to this season, the 24-year-old had played exclusively in the Mariners organization. Choi owns a .280/.379/.401 batting line in 400 Triple-A plate appearances, and he’s struck out just 63 times while taking 50 walks in that span.
Angels Acquire Jhoulys Chacin
The Angels have acquired righty Jhoulys Chacin from the Braves, as first reported by David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Twitter). Lefty Adam McCreery is going to Atlanta in the deal.
Chacin is owed $1.1MM on the minor league deal he signed with Atlanta this winter. That makes him a reasonably-priced addition for a Halos staff that has been devastated by injuries early in 2016.
A 28-year-old veteran of eight MLB seasons, Chacin has pitched to a 5.40 ERA in 26 2/3 innings over five starts this year. While that isn’t the most enticing mark in terms of run prevention, he has racked up 9.1 K/9 against just 2.7 BB/9 to go with a 48.1% groundball rate, leading ERA estimators to value his efforts thus far much more highly.
Of course, Chacin was only available on a meager commitment this winter because he’s lacked consistency at the major league level. There have been some notable highlights — including two seasons with nearly 200 innings and mid-3.00 ERAs while pitching at Coors Field — but Chacin has dealt with shoulder issues and proven susceptible to the long ball of late.
McCreery, 23, was a 22nd-round pick in the 2014 draft. He’s a tall and lanky reliever who has thrown 38 innings at the Rookie level over the last two years but has yet to make his 2016 debut. McCreery made strides in his second run at Rookie ball last year, striking out 28 batters in 28 2/3 innings while allowing just ten hits and five earned runs, but he still coughed up 14 free passes in that span. As Scout.com has explained, McCreery has high-powered stuff but has struggled to harness it with his huge frame.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
NL Central Notes: Hammel, Peralta, Victorino, Epstein, Reds
Every player has different priorities, many of which go beyond maximizing earnings, though that’s not always easy to discern from publicly available information. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports provides an interesting recent example, though, in Jason Hammel of the Cubs. The right-hander and his wife were disappointed to be dealt away from Chicago at the trade deadline in 2014, with Hammel telling Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein that he would “pitch well enough that you bring me back” even as he departed for the A’s. Though Hammel wasn’t as good in Oakland as he had been before the deal, that’s just what happened, as Hammel inked a two-year, $18MM deal in the offseason. It looked like a nice value for the team at the time, and the veteran has rewarded the Cubs with 204 2/3 innings of 3.43 ERA pitching since his return.
Here’s more from the NL Central:
- Cardinals shortstop Jhonny Peralta has been cleared to begin swinging a bat, as MLB.com’s Jen Langosch reports on Twitter. Peralta’s thumb injury looked like a major blow at the time, and while his loss has been softened by the stellar play of Aledmys Diaz, he should still provide a boost for a club that’s hovering around .500 while their division rivals to the north lay waste to the rest of the league. Fellow middle infielders Kolten Wong and Jedd Gyorko haven’t been nearly as effective as Diaz, and could cede playing time to Peralta when he’s healthy.
- Shane Victorino is active at Triple-A Iowa for the Cubs, but he might not spend much time there before a decision is made on his future with the organization. Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register tweets that Chicago has informed the veteran outfielder that his status will be reevaluated after a few weeks with the team’s top affiliate. Victorino is off to a solid start, with five hits — including two doubles and a triple — in his first four games.
- There’s long been talk that Epstein would sign a new deal with the Cubs before reaching executive free agency after the season, but he tells Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune (Twitter link) that there are no imminent extensions — either for himself or with any of the team’s players. Nevertheless, the presumption still seems to be that Epstein will re-up with the organization at some point.
- It was always expected to be a difficult season for the Reds, but the organization has dealt with more injuries than might’ve been hoped. C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer provides updates on several situations. Righty Michael Lorenzen is just now returning to the hill after experiencing elbow issues this spring and then suffering a bout with mono. Fellow pitchers Anthony DeSclafani, Raisel Iglesias, and Jon Moscot are all making progress with their own injury matters, but certainly that’s not a list of arms that the club hoped to see on the DL at this stage of the year. DeSclafani, like Lorenzen, has yet to appear in the majors this season.
Jonny Gomes Leaves Japan, Hopes To Return To MLB
Veteran outfielder Jonny Gomes has wrapped up his stint with Japan’s Rakuten Golden Eagles by “mutual consent,” Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports. He is interested in opportunities with major league organizations, though Gomes acknowledges that he’s not really in position to sign onto a MLB roster.
“Yeah, I want to play,” he told Rosenthal. “I want to play when I’m 50 but I understand where I am and where the game is right now.”
Gomes did suggest that he can “bring way more to a team” than on-field performance, and there is little doubt that his celebrated clubhouse presence would help draw interest. But the 35-year-old struggled with Rakuten, putting up a .169/.280/.246 slash with 22 strikeouts in 75 plate appearances.
Of course, Gomes only ended up pursuing an opportunity abroad after battling through a pair of rough campaigns. Over 2014-15, he posted a collective .225/.321/.337 batting line in 583 trips to the plate with the Red Sox, Athletics, Braves, and Royals.
Though he did still hit lefties at an above-average clip, Gomes checked in below replacement level in both years. He’s never been a great fielder, and also took a step back on the bases in 2015.
At his best, Gomes is a lefty-mashing fourth outfielder who can hold his own against right-handed pitching. He’s also provided surprising value on the bases (albeit not in the stolen base department) while receiving plaudits for his influence as a teammate.
NL West Notes: Bloomquist, Rodney, Rockies, Giants
The Diamondbacks announced on Tuesday that they’ve hired Willie Bloomquist as a special assistant to president and CEO Derrick Hall, where he’ll contribute both to the business and baseball operations side of the organization. In his new role, Bloomquist, who announced his retirement as a player earlier this spring, will attend community events, meeti with corporate partners, interact with season ticket-holders, assist in Spring Training workouts and visit with the club’s Minor League affiliates over the course of the season. Bloomquist expressed excitement over once again being part of the D-backs organization, stating in a press release: “In my 14 seasons in MLB, this is where I feel I played my best baseball and made some of my fondest memories as a player. With the leadership this organization has in place, I am excited for what the future holds and am eager to do my part in helping make this a championship caliber organization and fulfill the goal of being World Series champions.” In parts of 14 MLB seasons, Bloomquist batted .269/.316/.342 and logged at least 200 innings at every position except catcher and pitcher.
Elsewhere in the NL West…
- Padres bullpen coach Doug Bochtler, who helped former teammate Trevor Hoffman and former AL Cy Young winner Johan Santana refine their changeups, calls Fernando Rodney‘s changeup one of the best he’s ever seen, writes Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union Tribune. While Rodney struggled tremendously in 2015, he’s off to an excellent start in 2016, displaying the same 96 mph heat he’s long been known for and showing renewed dominance with his changeup, yielding just a .080 average and generating a career-best 28.7 percent swinging-strike rate with the pitch. Rodney’s deal comes with just a $1.6MM base salary but allows him to earn up to $5MM this season based on appearances and games finished, Lin writes, and whatever incentives he earns in 2016 are tacked onto the value of next season’s club option (which has a $2MM base).
- Nick Groke of the Denver Post spoke to Rockies farm director Zach Wilson, who said that the club doesn’t have a timeline for the promotion of some of its most promising young arms. As Groke writes, the club has, in the past, rushed pitchers such as Eddie Butler to the Majors out of necessity, but there’s no plan to repeat that mistake with the likes of right-hander Jeff Hoffman, left-hander Kyle Freeland and others. Groke provides a rundown of seven of the organization’s top minor league arms, with quotes from Wilson on many of them.
- The Giants aren’t close to shaking up their rotation yet, writes Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. While both Matt Cain and Jake Peavy have struggled tremendously this season, Schulman writes that club officials believe the experience of Peavy and Cain still gives them the best chance to win. However, Schulman also notes that there are some internal steps being taken that could eventually lead to rotation shuffling if neither starter can prove to be competitive on a regular basis; right-hander Joan Gregorio and left-hander Andrew Suarez have each been promoted (to Triple-A and Double-A, respectively), while 2014 first-rounder Tyler Beede has impressed thus far at Double-A. The Giants would like to see Chris Heston, who made 95 pitches in his latest outing, deliver consecutive starts in the vicinity of 100 pitches before considering him as a rotation option, Schulman adds. It’s worth noting, too, that while Peavy was again hit hard last night, Cain just minutes ago completed the eighth inning of an excellent start (two runs, six hits, no walks, seven strikeouts) against a very strong Blue Jays lineup.
AL Notes: Morales, Rodriguez, Gonzalez, Duensing
Blue Jays left-hander Franklin Morales is just eight days from accumulating 45 days on the club’s roster, at which point the entirety of his $2MM salary becomes guaranteed, tweets Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith. (Morales’ contract contains a 45-day advance consent clause — a common provision which MLBTR’s Zach Links explored at length in Spring Training 2014.) However, Morales is currently on the disabled list and has yet to begin a rehab assignment, meaning there’s virtually no way he’ll be activated by that time. While the Blue Jays could’ve cut loose a healthy Morales within a 45-day window and not had to pay his entire salary, advance consent clauses also prohibit teams from terminating the salary of injured players. As such, Morales is effectively guaranteed to receive all of that $2MM sum. Of course, if Morales pitches as well as he did with the Royals in 2015 upon activation from the DL, the Jays won’t mind that salary.
A few more notes from the American League…
- Eduardo Rodriguez needs to make “at minimum” one more rehab start in the minor leagues, Red Sox manager John Farrell tells Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald. As such, Rodriguez will not be activated from the disabled list this week and is likely to stay with Triple-A Pawtucket for the time being. Rodriguez is OK with the decision, Mastrodonato writes, as his velocity has been topping out at just 93 mph after reaching as high as 98 mph. The Sox have had Rodriguez go through strength testing, and Farrell says that the lefty is still building arm strength, though Rodriguez himself tells WEEI’s Rob Bradford that he made some strides in tonight’s bullpen session. “I could push more with my back leg, and it felt pretty good,” he says. “That’s what I needed to work on, using my lower half. So that’s what I tried to do today in the bullpen, and it went well.”
- The White Sox will go with right-hander Miguel Gonzalez in the recently vacated fifth spot of the rotation, GM Rick Hahn and skipper Robin Ventura told the media (including MLB.com’s Dave Sessions). “With Miguel’s performance both in Charlotte and what he did yesterday, he’s going to get a few opportunities here, probably in a row,” said Hahn. “Quite frankly, we’ve asked a lot of Miguel, bringing him up for a spot start against a really good hitting team in Toronto, and then 10 or 12 days later bringing him back against another difficult offensive team in their home park [on Monday]. I think he showed himself well both times, so he’s earned the right to get a little bit of stability and a little bit of repetition in that spot.
- Royals left-hander Brian Duensing, currently pitching for the club’s Triple-A affiliate, has a May 15 opt-out date approaching, MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan tweeted recently. The longtime Twins lefty is off to a strong start in the minors this season, having worked to a 2.04 ERA with a 15-to-4 K/BB ratio in 17 2/3 innings for the Storm Chasers. The 15 strikeouts, in particular, are encouraging for Duensing, who saw his strikeout rate deteriorate rapidly over the life of his final three seasons in Minnesota.