Blue Jays Claim Kenny Wilson From Twins
The Blue Jays have re-acquired Kenny Wilson by claiming the outfielder off waivers from the Twins, tweets MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger. The Blue Jays lost Wilson on a waiver claim to the Twins April 24. Minnesota designated him for assignment Friday.
Wilson will report to Double-A, tweets Ben Nicholson-Smith of sportsnet.ca. The 24-year-old opened the year as Baseball America’s 22nd-ranked prospect in the Blue Jay organization and is said to have starter upside, if he can translate his tools into production, but he has struggled at the Double-A level this season slashing .204/.276/.291 in 118 plate appearances between the Toronto and Minnesota affiliates.
The Blue Jays cleared a spot on their 40-man roster earlier today when they designated second baseman Chris Getz for assignment.
Rangers Outright Scott Baker
Right-hander Scott Baker has cleared waivers and has accepted his outright assignment to Triple-A, tweets Anthony Andro of FOXSportsSouthwest.com. Baker was designated for assignment Thursday.
Baker made his lone appearance for Texas on Wednesday allowing two earned runs during 5 1/3 innings of relief. Rangers GM Jon Daniels said Baker was designated because he needed several days of rest after his lengthy outing and the club couldn’t afford that luxury since their bullpen is taxed. Daniels added he would entertain trade offers; but, apparently, there wasn’t much of a market.
Baker has been solid at Triple-A this season. In six starts covering 38 innings, the 32-year-old has posted a 3.32 ERA, 7.1 K/9, and 2.6 BB/9.
This Date In Transactions History: Dave Winfield
On this date in 1990, the Yankees traded future Hall of Famer Dave Winfield to the California Angels for right-hander Mike Witt. However, the deal was not truly consummated until almost a week later when the rightfielder would finally give the deal his blessing. Winfield’s situation was a complicated one: the veteran had ten-and-five rights and therefore had the right to reject trades. However, his contract included a list of seven teams that he would agree to be traded to and the Angels were on it.
“This has nothing to do with the California Angels. I respect them, like them, the city, the weather,” said Winfield on May 12th, according to Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times. “I played with [Angel Manager] Doug Rader [in San Diego]. Everything’s cool. I have nothing bad to say about the Angels. I’m going to play a lot of years for somebody, but it isn’t going to be determined today where or when..”
Donald Fehr, the executive director of the Players Association, argued that the list was given to the Yankees under protest and the club was aware that Winfield had final say over any trade. Fehr cited another botched deal from 1988 which would have send the outfielder to the Astros until it was rejected by Winfield. One could assume that Winfield’s refusal to sign off on on the trade stemmed from his infamous rift with Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, but there was a much simpler explanation for his veto. The outfielder was in the final year of his ten-year, $20MM deal and was looking for a contract extension from the Halos.
The Angels were now in an awkward position and ultimately decided to give in to Winfield’s demands. On May 17th, the club agreed to a three-year, $9.1MM deal with Winfield that was only guaranteed for the first season. If released before the ’91 campaign, Winfield would receive a buyout of $2MM plus an additional $450K to cover the following year. With that, the deal was finally put through.
For his part, Witt was excited by the prospect of joining the Yankees and resuming his role as a starter. The 6’4″ hurler turned in a 4.47 ERA with 5.6 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 in 16 starts for the Bombers that season. As for Winfield, he bounced back in spectacular fashion after getting off to a slow start in the first 20 games of the season. Upon joining the Angels, Winfield hit .275/.348/.466 in 112 games and won the 1990 MLB Comeback Player of the Year Award.
Winfield would call it quits after the 1995 season, capping off a spectacular 22-year major league career. The right fielder was inducted into Cooperstown in his first year of eligibility of 2001 and became the first player to go into the Hall as a San Diego Padre.
This post was initially published on May 11th, 2012.
Xavier Nady Elects Free Agency
Xavier Nady refused his outright assignment and has elected free agency, a source tells Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com (on Twitter). Nady was designated for assignment to clear room for Kyle Blanks before being outrighted on Thursday. MLB.com’s Corey Brock tweeted over the weekend that it was a virtual certainty that Nady would turn down his assignment and hit the open market.
Nady, 35, belted three homers in 42 plate appearances for the Padres but also batted just .135 with a .238 on-base percentage in 2014. This season marked his first big league action since 2012 as well as a return to the organization that originally selected him in the second round of the 2000 draft. Now, he’ll move on in search of his next big league opportunity.
Nady is represented by Scott Boras, as shown in the MLBTR Agency Database.
Cafardo On Drew, Yankees, Lester, Morales
In today’s column, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe wonders why Red Sox fans have been heading for the exits early this season. Cafardo surveyed his Twitter followers for the answer and got a wide range of excuses, but winter weather was the No. 1 overall answer. More from today’s column..
- One major league source indicated the Yankees may change their thinking on whether to sign Stephen Drew if they find Derek Jeter can’t endure a full season at shortstop. The Yankees, according to the source, don’t want the Red Sox to get a draft pick, so they’d wait at least through the June draft so there would be no compensation. Ken Rosenthal theorized yesterday that it might make sense for the Red Sox to re-sign Drew if only to keep him away from the Yankees. If Boston wanted to, they could theoretically move Xander Bogaerts to third base in order to make room.
- This winter’s free agent class includes Max Scherzer, James Shields, and Justin Masterson, but one National League General Manager sees Jon Lester as the top available pitcher. “Lester is the most appealing,” said the GM. “He’s left-handed, a bulldog, big-game experience, and just 30. Will he get six or seven years? I’d say he will.”
- Brewers GM Doug Melvin acknowledged that Kendrys Morales’ name came up in the team’s first base discussions, but, “there are just a pool of players we can’t consider because of the National League-American League dynamic. That’s why I’m hoping we’re all playing by the same set of rules someday. It’s a reason we had to let Corey Hart go because we play 36 day games and it’s tough to come back after a night game.”
Blue Jays Designate Chris Getz For Assignment
The Blue Jays announced that they have designated second baseman Chris Getz for assignment. In a related move, right-hander Casey Janssen has been activated from the 15-day disabled list.
Getz, 30, appeared in ten games, notching four hits in 28 plate appearances and two stolen bases. The veteran also spent 18 games in Triple-A Buffalo this season, posting a .309 .382 .338 slash line. Across parts of seven seasons in the majors with the White Sox, Royals, and Blue Jays, Getz owns a career .250/.309/.307 slash line.
Rays Release Heath Bell
The Rays have released reliever Heath Bell, according to the MLB.com transactions page. Tampa Bay designated the 36-year-old for assignment one week ago.
The move doesn’t come as a surprise since Bell didn’t figure to draw a ton of trade interest. By releasing Bell, the Rays will continue to be on the hook for $5.5MM of his $9MM salary, per the terms of their trade that brought him in.
Bell, 36, is three years removed from his All-Star form and was struggling mightily to start off 2014. In 13 outings (17.1 innings), Bell posted a 7.27 ERA with 12 strikeouts and eight walks. This surely wasn’t the result that the Rays were hoping for when they acquired Bell in a three-team December deal.
While catcher Ryan Hanigan continued his solid defense with an improved slash line (.259/.344/.412), Bell floundered. In his last three seasons bouncing between the Marlins, Diamondbacks, and Rays, Bell owns a 4.91 ERA with 8.8 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9. That’s a far cry from the previous three years he enjoyed with the Padres where he posted a 2.36 ERA with 9.6 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 en route to three straight All-Star selections.
Marlins To Designate Carlos Marmol For Assignment
The Marlins will designate Carlos Marmol for assignment, Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald tweets. The former Cubs closer signed with Miami in February, then pitched in 13 1/3 innings, posting an 8.10 ERA with 9.5 K/9 and 6.8 BB/9.
Marmol has always posted very high walk numbers, but free passes have become especially problematic for him from a stratospheric 16.0 K/9 in 2010 to 10.8 in 2013, and he hasn’t served as a closer since 2012. Both his fastball and his slider have declined in effectiveness over the years as well. He’s still just 31, though, and has good velocity, so teams will undoubtedly continue to be curious about him.
Injury Notes: Tommy John Surgeries, Chapman, Davis
This year more than ever, it seems an enormous number of pitchers have suffered injuries that required Tommy John surgery. That includes big-leaguers like Matt Moore, Kris Medlen, Brandon Beachy, Patrick Corbin, A.J. Griffin and Jarrod Parker, along with potential first-round picks in Jeff Hoffman and Erick Fedde. But as Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal notes, the prognosis for pitchers who have Tommy John surgeries is now very good, and teams are much more cautious about diagnosing significant problems than they used to be. MacPherson quotes a number of former big-league pitchers whose experiences would seem wildly out of place today. “Everybody kept thinking, ‘If I had surgery, it might be the end of my career, so I’m going to pitch until it blows, and then that’s the end of my career,’” says former Orioles, Red Sox, Royals and Brewers hurler Mike Boddicker, who pitched in the big leagues until 1993. “It used to be that you had some inflammation — tendinitis. That was the big thing. You had tendinitis. You look some anti-inflammatories, and you’d rest a little bit, and then you’d keep going.” Here are more notes from around the big leagues.
- Aroldis Chapman‘s return after a stay on the disabled list with a head injury allows the Reds plenty of flexibility in their bullpen, writes Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. Chapman’s addition bumps Jonathan Broxton back to a setup role. The Reds have been fortunate in that their starters have worked deep into games, meaning that their bullpen likely won’t be overworked going forward. “There’s just not a lot of opportunities for these guys to come in the fifth or sixth and, sometimes, the seventh inning,” says manager Bryan Price. “We’ve spent a lot of time closing a game with one to two innings of bullpen work.”
- Chris Davis made an appearance for Double-A Bowie on Saturday to rehab his injured oblique, and he feels he’s ready to return to the Orioles, MASNsports.com’s Steve Melewski tweets. Davis last appeared in a game for the Orioles on April 25, and Steve Pearce has largely handled first-base duties since then.
Prospect Notes: Buxton, Astros, Rodon, Polanco
Byron Buxton, the Twins‘ top prospect and perhaps the top prospect in all of baseball, re-injured his wrist today while sliding into third, Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan tweets. The extent of the injury isn’t yet known, and Buxton will soon have an MRI. 2014 has likely been a frustrating season for Buxton — he injured his wrist in spring training and sat out the entire season until last week. He has played just five games so far this season, all at Class A+ Fort Myers. Here are more notes on prospects.
- Astros GM Jeff Luhnow was in Raleigh yesterday to watch NC State pitcher Carlos Rodon, a candidate to be taken first overall in next month’s draft, MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart writes. Rodon struck out nine batters and walked one in seven innings. “We’re still gathering information,” says Luhnow. “I know where I personally stand, but I haven’t seen these guys near as much and seen nearly as many guys as everybody else.”
- Calling up Gregory Polanco this weekend would have been a great move for the Pirates, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes. Polanco continues his hot hitting for Indianapolis (he’s currently at .374/.434/.580), and the Pirates are short on outfielders, with Travis Snider serving a suspension (and with Starling Marte and Andrew McCutchen both currently out of Saturday’s game with injuries). The Pirates will also be on “Sunday Night Baseball” this weekend. Of course, Polanco’s arbitration status will likely be a factor in the Pirates delaying his promotion until mid-June, by which point he will be past the Super Two threshold.