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Minor MLB Transactions: 11/27/18

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We’ll track today’s minor moves from around the league here…

  • The Cardinals announced yesterday that right-hander Derian Gonzalez has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Memphis. The 23-year-old pitched to a 3.51 ERA with 8.6 K/9 and 4.1 BB.9 across three levels (Rookie, Double-A, Triple-A) in 33 1/3 innings during an injury-shortened 2018 season. That marked the first action in either Double-A or Triple-A for Gonzalez.
  • Left-hander Hoby Milner cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A by the Rays, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). He’ll head to Spring Training as a non-roster invitee in hopes of once again cracking the roster. The 27-year-old Milner (28 in January) owns a 3.03 ERA in 38 2/3 big league innings, but there’s a fair bit of smoke and mirrors at play in that regard. Milner has just 7.0 K/9 against 4.9 BB/9 in the Majors and has stranded an unsustainable 86.2 percent of the runners he’s put on base. Fielding-independent metrics cast a much less favorable picture than his ERA (5.30 FIP, 5.65 xFIP, 5.07 SIERA). To his credit, Milner has held lefties to a laughable .177/.292/.277 slash through 98 plate appearances.
  • The Marlins announced that right-hander Ben Meyer and outfielder Braxton Lee have both cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A New Orleans and Double-A Jacksonville, repsectively. The 25-year-old Meyer made his MLB debut in 2018 but was hammered for 22 runs in 19 innings. The 2017 season was much better for the righty, as he worked to a 2.02 ERA with 10.8 K/9 against 1.9 BB/9 in 111 1/3 innings — albeit against much younger competition between Class-A and Class-A Advanced. Lee, meanwhile won a Double-A batting title in 2017 but hit just .233/.316/.294 across three minor league levels in 2018 in addition to a weak showing in a brief MLB debut of his own (18 plate appearances). Lee received plus grades for his speed and above-average marks for his outfield defense in the past but has never shown any power.
  • The Marlins have signed outfielder Harold Ramirez to a minor league contract, per John Dreker of PiratesProspects.com (Twitter link). The 24-year-old Ramirez spent a third consecutive season at the Double-A level in 2018 and put together a strong campaign, hitting .320/.365/.471 with 11 homers, 37 doubles and 16 steals in 505 trips to the plate. Ramirez was once considered to be on the fringes of the game’s top 100 prospects, but his stock has dipped in recent seasons — particularly in 2017 (.678 OPS in his second full season of Double-A ball).
  • Australian righty Todd Van Steensel tweeted last night that he’s signed a minor league pact with the Padres. The 27-year-old has spent the past six seasons in the Twins organization, where he’s topped out at the Double-A level. Van Steensel has a career 2.11 ERA with 9.4 K/9 against 4.1 BB/9 in 110 2/3 innings at that level, with all but two of his 66 Double-A appearances coming out of the bullpen.

Marlins Add Seven Players To 40-Man Roster, Designate Three Others For Assignment

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The Marlins announced an avalanche of roster moves in advance of tonight’s deadline for protection from the Rule 5 Draft. Being selected to the 40-man roster are right-handers Jorge Guzman, Jordan Yamamoto, Jordan Holloway and Kyle Keller, infielder Isan Diaz, outfielder Monte Harrison and left-hander Jose Quijada. Adding that group required the creation of three spots on the 40-man roster, which led the club to designate left-hander Dillon Peters, outfielder Braxton Lee and right-hander Ben Meyer for assignment.

Of the players to be designated for assignment, Peters is perhaps the most interesting. It’s not long ago that the 26-year-old lefty was deemed one of the more promising arms in an admittedly thin Marlins system on the heels of a 2.38 ERA between Class-A Advanced and Double-A in 2016. Peters didn’t have gaudy strikeout numbers but showed excellent control, and he followed up that season with a 1.57 ERA, 7.9 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 through 63 innings between Double-A and Triple-A in 2017.

He’s been shelled in the Majors, though, surrendering a 6.10 ERA in 59 innings while displaying walk issues that weren’t present as he worked through the minors. At this point, he’s 26-year-old (27 next August) who’s yet to even pitch at Triple-A and hasn’t had success in the Majors — but one who did draw praise for an above-average breaking ball in the past. A year ago at this time, he was viewed as a largely MLB-ready back-of-the-rotation starter.

Lee, meanwhile, drew plus running grades as a prospect and was said to have an average or better glove with a chance to play center. He’s never shown any semblance of power but has previously had excellent contact skills and even won a Double-A batting title in 2017. His 2018 campaign was a disaster, though, as Lee hit just .233/.316/.294 across three minor league levels and didn’t hit in a tiny sample of 18 MLB plate appearances.

Meyer, 26 later this offseason, debuted in 2018 and was clobbered for 22 runs in 19 innings of work. He was sensational in 2017, pitching to a 2.02 ERA with 10.8 K/9 against 1.9 BB/9 in 111 1/3 innings — but those numbers came against much younger opposition, as Meyer was a college pitcher in his third full pro season splitting the year between Class-A and Class-A Advanced. He logged a 4.24 ERA with 6.9 K/9 against 2.7 BB/9 in 63 2/3 Triple-A innings this season.

Marlins Select Contract Of J.B. Shuck, Place Garrett Cooper On 60-Day DL

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The Marlins announced on Friday that they’ve selected the contract of outfielder J.B. Shuck from Triple-A New Orleans. To clear room on the 40-man roster, first baseman/outfielder Garrett Cooper has been moved from the 10-day DL to the 60-day DL. Outfielder Braxton Lee was optioned to New Orleans to create a 25-man spot for the veteran Shuck.

Cooper recently landed on the disabled list when he was hit on the wrist by a pitch, and while the initial injury report out of Miami was a contusion, it seems that the injury is likely worse than that given today’s shuffle. Indeed, MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro tweets that Cooper has been diagnosed with a partially torn wrist tendon sheath.

That’s obviously unfortunate news for the 27-year-old, who had a clear path to a full-season showcase with the Fish. The rebuilding Marlins organization acquired Cooper over the winter from the Yankees and had planned to give him a shot at earning time in the corner outfield while also backing up Justin Bour at first base.

Cooper put himself on the map with a surprising minor-league breakout last year, leading to his acquisition by the Yankees and first crack at the majors. In his first 54 plate appearances at the game’s highest level, nine of which came early this season, he carries a .300/.333/.440 batting line.

The 30-year-old Shuck, meanwhile, will help fill in for at least the time being. He failed to spend any time in the majors last year, instead turning in 475 plate appearances of .259/.325/.368 hitting at Triple-A with the Twins organization. In just over a thousand trips to the plate in the majors, Shuck carries a .251/.299/.328 batting line with eight home runs.

Marlins Rumors: Payroll, Yelich, Realmuto, Analytics

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Though the Marlins fielded a $115MM payroll last season in Jeffrey Loria’s final year of ownership, the financial plan of the Bruce Sherman/Derek Jeter ownership group doesn’t call for payroll to return to those heights until 2021, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. Jackson cites a pair of copies of the financial plan provided to potential investors, entitled Project Wolverine, in providing a number of details on the Marlins’ upcoming year-to-year payrolls as well as some aggressive revenue and attendance projections.

Notably, while the Marlins are aiming for a payroll around $90MM in 2018, the plan projects even lower payrolls in 2019-20 ($81MM and $84.8MM, respectively), before jumping back into the nine-figure range. Part of the reason for the healthier number in 2018 could be the one-time $50MM payout that all 30 MLB teams are receiving after Disney’s acquisition of BAMTech, per Jackson. (Beyond that, Edinson Volquez, Brad Ziegler and Junichi Tazawa will be off the books after 2018.) It’s unclear whether trades of additional MLB assets will significantly alter those projections, though Jackson notes that Christian Yelich, J.T. Realmuto and Starlin Castro are available “for the right price,” while the team is (unsurprisingly) amenable to trading Tazawa ($7MM in 2018) and Ziegler ($9MM in ’18).

A bit more out of Miami…

  • If the Marlins do hang onto Yelich, he could once again be ticketed for left field duty, reports MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro. Yelich and Marcell Ozuna flipped positions this past season, with Yelich moving from left field to center field, but the acquisition of Magneuris Sierra (in the trade that sent Ozuna to St. Louis) gives Miami a center field option with elite speed. Miami could line up an outfield with Yelich in left, Sierra in center and speedy Braxton Lee in right field, giving the Fish a rangy trio that is lacking in the power department. However, Frisaro notes that Miami is still open to adding another right field option (be it via trade or a presumably low-cost option on the free agent market).
  • At least 15 teams have called the Marlins on Yelich, per Frisaro, while another dozen or so are showing interest in Realmuto. Miami isn’t willing to move either player for anything less than a substantial overpay in terms of prospects and young talent, though. Frisaro lists the Cardinals, Phillies, Braves and D-backs as teams that have spoken to Miami about Yelich.
  • Tim Healey of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel takes a look at the Marlins’ growing analytics department, reporting that former Yankees executive Dan Greenlee will now oversee the department. Former analytics head Jason Pare recently took a job as an assistant general manager with the Braves under new GM Alex Anthopoulos, and while Greenlee was initially tabbed as an interim head of the department, he’ll now oversee those operations on a permanent basis. Miami has also hired a new senior analyst (Myles Lewis), promoted analyst Michael Lord to analytics coordinator and is still seeking to hire another developer and another data analyst.

Players Added To The 40-Man Roster

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As detailed earlier this morning at MLBTR, the deadline for Major League clubs to add players to the 40-man roster in order to protect them from next month’s Rule 5 Draft is tonight. Because of that, there will be literally dozens of moves between now and 8pm ET as teams make final determinations on who to protect and who to risk losing in next month’s Rule 5 draft. This process will lead to smaller-scale trades, waiver claims and DFAs, but for some clubs the only necessary moves will simply be to select the contracts of the prospects they wish to place on the 40-man roster. We’ll track those such moves in this post…

Click to check in on other teams that have selected players to their 40-man rosters …

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Rays Acquire Adeiny Hechavarria

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5:16pm: Both clubs have announced the deal, making it official.

2:26pm: The Rays and Marlins have reportedly agreed to a trade that will send shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria from Miami to Tampa Bay in exchange for minor league outfielder Braxton Lee and minor league right-hander Ethan Clark. The Rays will take on all of Hechavarria’s remaining salary.

Adeiny Hechavarria | Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Hechavarria, 27, has been out for more than a month due to a strained oblique muscle but is ready to return to the field. While he doesn’t bring much to the table from an offensive standpoint, he’ll dramatically improve the Rays’ infield defense whenever he’s on the field. The Rays have relied primarily upon Tim Beckham and Daniel Robertson at shortstop in 2017 due to the fact that projected starter Matt Duffy has missed the entire year to date with a heel injury that recently required minor surgery.

From 2015-16, Hechavarria posted excellent defensive marks at shortstop, grading out at +18 Defensive Runs Saved and a +24.1 Ultimate Zone Rating. However, while that superlative glovework was paired with a respectable .281/.315/.374 batting line in 2015, Hechavarria has slashed just .241/.283/.319 in 614 trips to the dish since that time. He’s also earning $4.35MM this season, which was reportedly the Marlins’ primary motivation for finding a trading partner.

The Rays will control Hechavarria for one more season via the arbitration process, if they’re so inclined. Retaining him would mean giving him a raise on that $4.35MM salary in arbitration, though his injury and lack of production at the plate will likely limit the size of the raise to a fairly nominal amount.

Exactly how Hechavarria fits into the mix for the Rays remains to be seen. While he looks like the clear favorite to play shortstop on an everyday basis for the time being, Tampa Bay will need to decide what to do with the combination of Backham, Robertson and, when he returns from the disabled list, Brad Miller — the latter of whom was the primary second baseman prior to getting injured. One of Beckham or Robertson seems likely to be sent out — Beckham is out of options, so Robertson seems likelier — but the eventual returns of Miller and Duffy will further crowd the infield mix.

As for the players that Miami will receive in return, neither Lee nor Clark entered the season rated among Tampa Bay’s top 30 prospects. Lee, a 12th-round pick out of the University of Mississippi back in 2014, is hitting .318/.387/.391 through 296 plate appearances in Double-A this season, although it’s his second season at that level and he’ll turn 24 in August, so he’s not especially young relative to the competition that he’s facing. That production has been buoyed by a .397 BABIP, though, and Clark has never shown any power, with just two homers in his pro career.

Clark, meanwhile, has a 3.11 ERA with 8.2 K/9, 2.9 BB/9 and a 39.9 percent ground-ball rate in 55 innings at Class-A Bowling Green. The former 15th-round pick (Crowder College, 2015) is 22 years of age, so he’s not young for the Class-A Midwest League, either.

For the Marlins, the move boils down to primarily a salary dump, as they’ll save $2.33MM by moving Hechavarria and the entirety of his contract. The trade likely opens up an everyday role for 25-year-old JT Riddle to attempt to establish himself as Miami’s new long-term shortstop, though Riddle has been mired in a dreadful slump at the plate and is currently batting just .230/.251/.354 with three homers, nine doubles and a triple through 173 big league plate appearances.

Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald first reported that Hechavarria was on the trade block, and Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports added that he was likely to be traded in the very near future (via Twitter). ESPN’s Buster Olney reported that the Rays had made significant strides in getting a deal worked out (Twitter link). MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro tweeted that the Rays were the front-runners. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweeted that Lee and Clark were involved in talks, and Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald broke the news (on Twitter) that the deal was done.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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