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Dan Butler

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/15/18

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Here are Wednesday’s minor moves from around the league…

  • The Mariners purchased the contract of former big league lefty David Rollins from the Sussex County Miners of the independent Can-Am League, reports Tacoma Rainiers broadcaster Mike Curto. He’ll join the Mariners’ top affiliate in Tacoma. Rollins was starting for the Miners, having notched a 2.79 ERA, 8.4 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 through 113 innings, though he worked exclusively as a reliever in 31 Major League appearances with the Mariners back in 2015-16. Rollins has a 7.60 ERA in 34 1/3 innings at the big league level and also owns a 4.03 ERA with 7.6 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9 in 102 2/3 innings of Triple-A work.
  • Catcher Dan Butler cleared waivers after being designated for assignment by the Red Sox and was outrighted to Triple-A Pawtucket, tweets Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston. Butler appeared in just two games for the Sox and went 1-for-6 with a single and a sac fly. Between that showing and a brief cameo with the Sox back in 2014, Butler has hit .200/.222/.320 in 27 MLB plate appearances. In 1715 plate appearances at Triple-A across parts of nine seasons, he’s posted a .246/.332/.383 batting line and thrown out 30 percent of would-be base thieves.

Red Sox Designate Dan Butler For Assignment

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The Red Sox announced that they’ve activated catcher/utilityman Blake Swihart from the 10-day disabled list and designated catcher Dan Butler for assignment to open a spot on the roster. Boston had selected the contract of Butler, 31, when Swihart hit the DL earlier this month. The organization will now have a week to trade Butler or run him through outright waivers.

Butler appeared in just two games for the Sox and went 1-for-6 with a single and a sacrifice fly in that short time. It marked his fist MLB action since a cup of coffee as a 27-year-old back in 2014. In all, Butler has just 27 MLB plate appearances, though he comes with plenty of experience at the Triple-A level. In 1715 plate appearances there across parts of nine seasons, he’s posted a .246/.332/.383 slash at that level. Butler, who has thrown out 30 percent of would-be base thieves in his minor league career, is out of minor league options, meaning any team that acquires him (via waivers or trade) him would have to keep him on the MLB roster.

 

Minor MLB Transactions: 12/26/16

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Here are some recent minor league moves from around the game, as chronicled by Baseball America’s Matt Eddy unless otherwise credited.  The newest transactions are at the top of the post…

  • The Giants inked catcher Josmil Pinto to a minor league deal.  Pinto appeared in six games with Milwaukee last season, his first MLB exposure since 2014.  The backstop has 84 games and 286 plate appearances to his record with the Brewers and Twins, as well as a .274/.349/.442 slash line over 3242 minor league PA.
  • The Mariners signed outfielder Kyle Waldrop to a minors contract.  The longtime Reds farmhand became a free agent after a 2016 season that saw him outrighted off Cincinnati’s 40-man roster.  Waldrop (a different player than the former Twins right-hander of the same name, for the record) appeared in 15 games for the Reds last season, mostly as a pinch-hitter or late-game sub.  He has a .274/.320/.429 slash over 2698 PA in the Reds’ minor league system.
  • The White Sox signed righty Jorge Rondon to a minor league pact earlier this month.  Rondon has a 13.26 ERA over 19 career innings pitched in the majors, making brief appearances in each of the last three seasons with the Cardinals, Rockies, Orioles and Pirates.  A pro since 2006, Rondon has a 4.24 ERA, 5.8 K/9 and 1.54 K/BB rate over 647 1/3 career frames in the minors, appearing as a reliever in 346 over his 387 career games.
  • The Red Sox re-signed catcher Dan Butler on a minor league deal.  Originally signed as an undrafted free agent in 2009, Butler has spent his entire pro career in Boston’s organization, save for a season with the Nationals in 2015.  Butler has a .256/.348/.405 slash line over 2441 career PA in the minors, and he appeared in seven games in the bigs in 2014.
  • The Tigers signed righties Jake Brigham and outfielder Jim Adduci to minor league deals.  As Eddy notes, Detroit has been active in signing players from international leagues as minor league depth, including these two former big leaguers.  Brigham spent 2016 with Japan’s Rakuten Golden Eagles after nine pro seasons in North America, receiving his first taste of the majors in the form of 16 2/3 innings with the Braves in 2015.  Adduci, 31, played 11 seasons in the minors and parts of two seasons (148 PA with the Rangers in 2013-14) in the majors before spending the last two years with the Korean Baseball Organization’s Lotte Giants.

Minor MLB Transactions: 1-21-16

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Here are today’s minor signings and outrights from around the league…

  • The Giants and veteran catcher George Kottaras are in agreement on a minor league deal with an invite to Major League Spring Training, reports Jon Heyman (via Twitter). The 32-year-old has a history of hitting for power and drawing walks, as evidenced by his lifetime .215/.326/.411 hitter in the Majors. However, he also strikes out at nearly a 24 percent clip and struggles to throw out runners. He’ll be a depth piece in San Francisco, where Buster Posey and Andrew Susac are ahead of him on the depth chart.
  • Fellow catcher Dan Butler is returning to the Red Sox organization on a minor league deal with a big league Spring Training invite, Heyman also tweets. Boston traded Butler to the Nationals just over one year ago, but he was released at season’s end after hitting .227/.316/.316 at Triple-A Syracuse. Butler received a brief promotion with the 2014 BoSox but has spent much of his career at Triple-A, where he’s a career .242/.325/.386 hitter in 1064 plate appearances.
  • The Marlins announced that they’ve outrighted first baseman/left fielder Tommy Medica to Triple-A New Orleans. Medica, 27, was designated for assignment earlier this month after being passed up on the depth chart by free-agent signee Chris Johnson. He batted .246/.308/.417 for the 2013-14 Padres but spent the 2015 season at New Orleans, where he hit .259/.314/.364 in 363 trips to the plate.
  • The D-backs announced that they have outrighted hard-throwing right-hander Matt Stites to Triple-A Reno following last week’s DFA. Stites, 25, was the key piece that the D-backs received in their 2013 trade that sent Ian Kennedy to San Diego, but he’s struggled with his control in both the Majors and minors. He’ll hope for better results in what will be his third stint at Triple-A. (The first two, it should be noted, have been rather brief in nature.)

Nationals Designate Dan Butler For Assignment

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The Nationals have designated Triple-A catcher Dan Butler for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Jonathan Papelbon, tweets Mark Zuckerman of CSNWashington.com.

The Nationals picked up Butler from the Red Sox in a minor January trade that sent left-hander Danny Rosenbaum to Boston. Butler has a solid, if unspectacular track record at the Triple-A level and got a brief cup of coffee with the Sox in 2014, but he hasn’t performed up to his standards in 2015. This year, in 253 plate appearances at Syracuse, Butler is hitting just .231/.315/.312. Those numbers fall well shy of the .248/.329/.416 Triple-A batting line that he carried into the season.

Nationals Acquire Dan Butler From Red Sox For Danny Rosenbaum

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The Nationals have acquired catcher Dan Butler from the Red Sox in exchange for lefty Daniel Rosenbaum, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe reports on Twitter. Butler had been designated for assignment a week ago.

Though Washington seemed to be set at the big league level, with three catchers on the 40-man and another (Steven Lerud) coming to camp, the 28-year-old Butler apparently held enough appeal to add. He only reached the big leagues briefly for the first time last year, but owns a .248/.329/.416 slash with 22 home runs over 739 career trips to bat at Triple-A.

Though his numbers dipped at the highest level of the minors last year, Butler showed in 2013 that he can reach base and hit for power against quality pitching. Whether that can carry to the big leagues remains to be seen, of course.

As the Red Sox give up on one of their organization’s development success stories in Butler, so too the Nats finally part with Rosenbaum. The 27-year-old rose from a 22nd-round pick to the highest levels of the minors and even earned a Rule 5 selection before the 2013 season.

A prototypical soft-tossing, crafty lefty, Rosenbaum has not carried his domination of the lower minors into the upper ranks. Across 178 1/3 Triple-A frames, he owns a 3.94 ERA with 5.6 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9. Rosenbaum will need to finish rehabbing back from Tommy John surgery last spring before he can take the hill for the first time in the Sox organization.

That the Nationals parted with an upper-level arm, rather than the usual cash settlement, could indicate that there was slightly more at work here than the average DFA deal. It could be that Washington faced competition in pursuing Butler and/or that the organization felt it had enough depth and was ready to move on from Rosenbaum, who would become a minor league free agent after the end of the season.

Red Sox Designate Dan Butler For Assignment

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The Red Sox have designated catcher Dan Butler for assignment to clear roster space for left-hander Craig Breslow, reports Kevin Thomas of the Portland Press Herald.

As Thomas notes, the acquisition of Ryan Hanigan as a backup to Christian Vazquez and the presence of Blake Swihart on the 40-man roster made Butler an expendable asset for Boston. The 30-year-old Butler made his Major League debut in 2014 after signing with the Sox as an undrafted free agent in 2009. He posted a .618 OPS in a small sample of 20 plate appearances but has a nice track record at the Triple-A level. In 192 games (739 PA) with Pawtucket, Butler slashed .248/.329/.416 with 22 home runs while throwing out 31 percent of those who attempted to steal bases against the PawSox.

The D-Backs strike me as a possible fit for Butler, given their lack of depth behind the plate. The Orioles are another team that has been linked to backup catching options (despite already having five backstops on their 40-man roster). Of course, as Thomas notes, Butler could end up back with Boston on a new minor league deal if he isn’t traded and passes through waivers unclaimed.

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