Minor Moves: Humber, Jeroloman, Boyer
Here's your rundown of minor moves for Friday…
- Astros right-hander Philip Humber has accepted his outright assignment to Triple-A Oklahoma City, reports Brian McTaggart of MLB.com (via Twitter). Today was the deadline for Humber to decide to report to Triple-A or elect free agency after being outrighted off the 40-man roster earlier this week.
- The Nationals have acquired minor league catcher Brian Jeroloman from the Pirates, according to Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (on Twitter). The 28-year-old was hitting .222/.481/.278 thanks to his nine walks in 29 plate appearances for Triple-A Indianapolis. Mark Zuckerman of CSN Washington adds that the Nats gave up cash for Jeroloman because they needed catching depth with Jhonatan Solano back in the Majors and Wilson Ramos on the DL (Twitter links). Jeroloman is a career .235/.349/.305 hitter in 122 Triple-A games.
- Right-hander Blaine Boyer exercised the out clause in his minor league deal with the Royals and became a free agent, tweets Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star. Boyer hasn't pitched in the bigs since 2011. He has a 4.81 ERA in 234 career innings after being selected by the Braves in the third round in 2000. Boyer posted a 3.00 ERA, 10.8 K/9 and 1.8 BB/9 in 15 innings for the Royals' Triple-A affiliate, though he allowed four unearned runs as well and served up three homers.
Cardinals Release Blaine Boyer
The Cardinals have released Blaine Boyer from their Triple-A affiliate according the the club's Twitter feed. St. Louis had signed him a minor league contract last month.
Boyer, 30, has bounced around quite a bit this year. The started the season with the Mets, then got designated for assignment in April. He hooked on with the Pirates soon thereafter, but they released him in June. Overall, Boyer has 10.80 ERA in 6 2/3 big league innings and 10.90 ERA in 34 2/3 minor league innings this season.
Cardinals Sign Blaine Boyer, Ron Mahay
The Cardinals announced that they signed right-hander Blaine Boyer and left-hander Ron Mahay to minor league deals (Twitter link). Boyer pitched for the Cardinals in 2009 and though Mahay has pitched for eight teams, St. Louis is not one of them.
Both veterans have bounced around in 2011. Boyer started the season with the Mets, who released him in April. The Pirates signed Boyer soon after New York released him, then let him go in June. The Dodgers signed Mahay in February and released him the next month. By the middle of May he had already signed with Arizona and been released a second time.
Boyer, 29, has a 4.81 ERA with 6.2 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in parts of seven MLB seasons. He allowed 14 hits and nine walks in eight innings for the Pirates' Triple-A affiliate earlier this season. Mahay has a 3.83 ERA with 7.4 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9 in parts of 14 Major League seasons. The 40-year-old struggled through ten appearances with Triple-A Reno earlier this year.
Pirates Release Blaine Boyer
The Pirates have released Blaine Boyer according to the Triple-A International League transactions page. He signed a minor league deal with Pittsburgh back in April after electing free agency when the Mets designated him for assignment.
Boyer, 29, threw eight innings across 11 relief appearances with the Pirates' Triple-A team, though he allowed 14 hits and 14 runs (12 earned) in that time. He also walked more batters (nine) than he struck out (eight) and surrendered three homers. Boyer gave up eight runs in 6 2/3 innings for the Mets earlier this season, though he did post a respectable 4.26 ERA in 57 innings with the Diamondbacks last year.
Pirates Sign Blaine Boyer, Brett Sinkbeil
The Pirates signed pitchers Blaine Boyer and Brett Sinkbeil to minor league deals, tweets Baseball America's Matt Eddy.
Boyer, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Mets in January after being non-tendered by the Diamondbacks, but was designated for assignment on April 10th. He elected free agency rather than accept an assignment to the Mets' Triple-A club. Boyer posted a 4.26 ERA, 4.6 K/9, 4.6 BB/9, 0.5 HR/9, and 65.8% groundball rate in 57 relief innings for Arizona last year. His groundball rate ranked third in baseball among those with 50 innings, and he averages around 94 miles per hour on his fastball, so he'll keep getting chances.
Sinkbeil, the 19th overall pick in the 2006 draft, was released by the Marlins in late March.
Blaine Boyer Elects Free Agency
Blaine Boyer cleared waivers and elected free agency instead of accepting an assignment to Triple-A Buffalo, according to Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork (on Twitter). The Mets designated the reliever for assignment over the weekend after he made the team as a non-roster invitee.
Boyer appeared in just five games this year, but after 6 2/3 innings, eight earned runs, 13 hits and just one strikeout, the Mets GM Sandy Alderson had seen enough. The 29-year-old right-hander was more effective last year, when he posted a 4.26 ERA in 57 innings of work for the D'Backs. However, he walked as many batters as he struck out in 2010 (29).
Mets Designate Blaine Boyer For Assignment
The Mets have designated Blaine Boyer for assignment according to Peter Botte of The New York Daily News (on Twitter). The team also sent down outfielder Lucas Duda and recalled right-handers Ryota Igarashi and Jason Isringhausen.
Boyer, 29, beat out Izzy for the final spot in the Mets' bullpen in camp but failed to impress. He pitched to a 7.71 ERA and a 2.14 WHIP in 4 2/3 innings, and that was before his four run, two inning outing this afternoon. Isringhausen agreed to remain with the team in Extended Spring Training before the season started.
Mets Sign Blaine Boyer
The Mets have signed right-hander Blaine Boyer to a minor league contract, reports ESPNNewYork.com's Adam Rubin. The deal includes an invitation to New York's Major League Spring Training camp.
Boyer was selected as a non-tender candidate by MLBTR's Tim Dierkes in November, and indeed, the 29-year-old reliever was non-tendered by Arizona last month. Boyer posted a 4.26 ERA in 54 appearances with the D'Backs in 2010, and had a perfectly matched K/BB ratio (29 strikeouts, 29 walks). On the plus side, he's a hard-thrower with one of the best groundball rates in the game.
National League Non-Tenders
This post will list all the National League players non-tendered today, but the best place to track all 200+ arbitration eligible players is our new non-tender tracker.
- Rockies: Manny Delcarmen
- Mets: Sean Green Chris Carter, John Maine
- Nationals: Joel Peralta, Wil Nieves, Chien-Ming Wang
- Dodgers: Russell Martin, George Sherrill, Trent Oeltjen
- Giants: Chris Ray, Eugenio Velez
- Pirates: Lastings Milledge, Argenis Diaz, Donnie Veal, Brian Burres
- Diamondbacks: Blaine Boyer, Ryan Church, Augie Ojeda, D.J. Carrasco
- Marlins: Jose Veras, Ronny Paulino
- Padres: Tony Gwynn, Scott Hairston, Matt Antonelli, Luis Perdomo
- Brewers: Todd Coffey, Joe Inglett
- Astros: Sammy Gervacio
- Braves: Matt Diaz
Non-Tender Candidate: Blaine Boyer
As new Diamondbacks GM Kevin Towers looks to remake his bullpen, he may choose to cut 29-year-old right-handed reliever Blaine Boyer loose. Towers will need to decide by the December 2nd non-tender deadline, as Boyer is arbitration eligible for the second time in his career after earning $725K in 2010.
Boyer tossed 57 innings out of Arizona's pen this year, with a 4.26 ERA, 4.6 K/9, 4.6 BB/9, and 0.5 HR/9. His 65.8% groundball rate stood out; that ranked third among all pitchers with at least 50 innings. He also throws hard, averaging a 94.6 mph fastball this year.
Boyer has moved around in his career since coming up with the Braves. The Braves traded him to the Cardinals in April of '09, and then the D'Backs claimed him off waivers two months later after he'd been designated for assignment. Former D'Backs GM Josh Byrnes designated Boyer again in May of this year, but he cleared waivers and was added back to the roster in June.
Boyer's control in 2010 had been horrible prior to his demotion, but an arm slot adjustment led to a 3.7 BB/9 after his recall. That's tolerable, but with so few strikeouts it's tough to make that formula work even with frequent groundballs.
We've shown you the good and the bad; now it's your turn to predict what Kevin Towers will do. Click here to make your prediction and here to view the poll results.