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Dodgers Notes: Kazmir, Hill, Johnson

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Dodgers lefty Scott Kazmir is headed for an examination today as he deals with back and neck issues, as Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times was among those to tweet. The issue isn’t exactly a new one, but seems to be an occasionally recurring problem. As Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register tweets, Kazmir says that he ends up having trouble picking up the target and keeping his right side closed when it flares up. It’s not yet clear whether a DL stint will be considered or whether there’s cause for broader concern. Regardless, it’s not great news for a Los Angeles team that has dealt with injuries to nearly every member of its rotation at one point or another this year.

Here are a few more notes out of Los Angeles:

  • The Dodgers are at least finally set to welcome trade deadline acquisition Rich Hill to the rotation on Wednesday, as he is now officially scheduled to start an important tilt against Johnny Cueto and the Giants. Hill has been on the shelf for much longer than had been expected while waiting for a blister to heal and has yet to take the mound since arriving in L.A. over three weeks ago. A blister may not sound like much of an injury, but as Eric Nusbaum explores in great detail for Vice Sports, it’s a major problem for a pitcher.
  • Dan Johnson, a 37-year-old former first baseman, has joined the Dodgers as a knuckleballing hurler, per an announcement from the indy league St. Paul Saints (with whom he was pitching). He’ll head to Double-A for the Los Angeles organization, where he’ll be reunited with Andrew Friedman — who was the GM of the Rays back when Johnson popped his famous home run for the organization. Johnson had returned to Tampa Bay for Spring Training this year, but wasn’t able to stick as a pitcher. Now, he’ll head to the Double-A level and try for an improbable return to the majors. Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN recently ran a story on Johnson that is well worth a look.

Minor MLB Transactions: 4/10/16

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Here are today’s minor moves from around baseball:

  • Longtime major league first baseman Dan Johnson has signed with the Bridgeport Bluefish of the Atlantic League, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports (Twitter link). Johnson will both pitch and play the field for the Bluefish, according to Topkin. The 36-year-old raised eyebrows in March when he signed a minor league deal with the Rays in hopes of cracking their roster as a knuckleball pitcher. Tampa ultimately released Johnson a few weeks later, thus dashing his dream – at least temporarily – of moving from first to the mound in the bigs. Johnson spent last season with the Cardinals and Reds organizations, logging 21 plate appearances in St. Louis. Over 1,625 major league PAs with six different teams, Johnson has hit a serviceable .234/.335/.405. He’s perhaps most famous for a dramatic home run in 2011 that helped send the Rays to the playoffs on the final day of the regular season.

Minor MLB Transactions: 3/30/16

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As we near the end of Spring Training, it’s a big day — if you can call it that — for minor moves. Here’s the latest from around the league.

  • The Royals have released outfielder Travis Snider, Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star tweets. They had signed Snider to a minor-league deal after he hit .232/.313/.350 with the Orioles and Pirates last year. He had been looking to compete for a bench job.
  • The Royals have also re-signed righty sidearmer Peter Moylan to a minor-league deal, Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star tweets. The 37-year-old came back to pitch for the Braves last season after having Tommy John surgery, and the Royals signed him to a minor-league deal only to release him earlier this week to avoid paying him a retention bonus.
  • Third baseman Will Middlebrooks could have refused to let the Brewers send him to the minors, but he’s accepted an assignment to Triple-A Colorado Springs, Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel tweets. Middlebrooks hit .212/.241/.361 in 255 plate appearances last season for San Diego and did not win a job with the Brewers out of Spring Training.
  • The Marlins have re-signed utilityman Don Kelly to a minor-league deal, MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro tweets. The Marlins had released Kelly yesterday, likely to avoid paying him a $100K retention bonus as an Article XX(B) free agent. The longtime Tigers bench piece played sparingly in the Marlins organization in 2015.
  • The Marlins also released first baseman Tommy Medica today, Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith tweets. Medica played in 102 games with the Padres in 2014, but did not play in the big leagues last year, instead batting .259/.314/.364 in 363 plate appearances for San Diego’s Triple-A affiliate in El Paso.
  • The Tigers have re-signed veteran infielder Casey McGehee to a minor-league deal, tweets MLB.com’s Jason Beck. They had released him this week. As with Kelly and Moylan, McGehee would have been owed a retention bonus. McGehee struggled with San Francisco and Miami in 2015, batting .198/.264/.274 in 258 plate appearances.
  • White Sox righty Kameron Loe has received an 80-game suspension for PEDs, Stefan Stevenson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram notes (Twitter links). Officially, Loe tested positive for dehydrochlormethyltestosterone metabolite and methasterone. He says on his Twitter account that he was caught taking an unapproved product he bought at a nutrition store. Loe was also suspended 50 games last year, although that was for a “drug of abuse,” not for PED use. He pitched in the independent Atlantic League in 2015 before signing a minor-league deal with Chicago.
  • The Rays have released first-baseman-turned-knuckleballer Dan Johnson, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. The 36-year-old Johnson, who briefly played for the Cardinals last year, had been trying for a sort of second career as a pitcher after years spent as a slugger on the fringes of the big leagues.

Rays To Sign Dan Johnson To Be Knuckleball Pitcher

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The Rays will sign Dan Johnson to a minor league deal, MLB.com’s Bill Chastain tweets. Johnson played first base for the Rays during parts of the 2008, 2010 and 2011 seasons (famously hitting a ninth-inning homer in 2011 that propelled the Rays to the playoffs) and spent the 2015 campaign playing first in the Cardinals and Reds organizations (appearing briefly in the big leagues with the Cards). He has also won MVPs in both the PCL and the International League and has logged over 4,000 career plate appearances in Triple-A.

Surprisingly, though, the Rays are signing Johnson this time not as a first baseman, but as a righty knuckleball pitcher. As Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune notes, the Rays recently hired former knuckleballer Charlie Haeger to be a minor league pitching coordinator, and Haeger is already working with another knuckleballer in Rays camp, Eddie Gamboa. Johnson, remarkably, is four years older than Haeger. If Johnson were to return to the big leagues as a knuckeball pitcher at age 36 after years spent on the fringes of the Majors as a first baseman, it would be an extremely unusual twist in his career, perhaps rivaling that of pitcher-turned-outfielder Rick Ankiel.

Minor Moves: Cards, Carpenter, Murphy, Clemens

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Here are today’s minor league transactions from around baseball, with the newest moves at the top of the post…

  • The Cardinals outrighted right-hander Marcus Hatley and first baseman Dan Johnson off the 40-man roster and sent them to Triple-A, according to the club’s official transactions page.  Both players were designated for assignment earlier in the week.
  • Braves right-hander David Carpenter has accepted his outright assignment to Triple-A, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets.  Carpenter was designated for assignment last week and had the option of becoming a free agent, which he declined to stay in the Braves organization.  Carpenter has only appeared in four games for Atlanta this season, posting a 7.36 ERA over his 3 2/3 innings of work.
  • The Brewers released infielder Donnie Murphy, as per the Pacific Coast League’s transactions page.  Murphy signed a minor league contract with Milwaukee in February and had a .257/.352/.371 line over 162 PA at Triple-A Colorado Springs.  The 32-year-old Murphy has appeared in parts of nine Major League seasons with five different teams since 2004.
  • The Royals signed righty Paul Clemens to a minor league deal, according to MLB.com’s transactions page.  Clemens posted a 5.51 ERA over 98 innings with the Astros in 2013-14 and a 5.54 ERA over 26 innings in the Phillies’ minor league system this season.  He was released by the Phils in June.
  • Chris Capuano has accepted his outright assignment from the Yankees and reported to Triple-A, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets.  The veteran southpaw had the option of becoming a free agent, though doing so would’ve forfeited the roughly $1.7MM still owed to him on his Yankees contract for the rest of the season.
  • Angels right-hander Jeremy McBryde has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A, the club’s communications department tweets.  McBryde was designated for assignment earlier in the week.  McBryde has a 4.07 ERA over 659 1/3 career minor league innings, though he’s struggled to a 5.63 ERA in 46 1/3 relief frames for the Halos’ Triple-A affiliate this season.
  • While McBryde’s case has been settled, over 20 players are still in DFA limbo.  Check out the MLB Trade Rumors DFA Tracker for a full accounting of the players still awaiting their next assignment.

Cardinals Designate Dan Johnson

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The Cardinals have designated veteran first baseman Dan Johnson for assignment, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports on Twitter. The 35-year-old lost his roster spot to make way for the just-acquired Brandon Moss.

Johnson has seen only scattered big league action for most of his career, and has not taken more than 100 MLB plate appearances since 2010. All told, he’s slashed .234/.335/.405 over 1,625 plate appearances in his career. While waiting for his next chance at the big leagues, Johnson has swatted 250 total minor league home runs.

Cardinals Designate Aledmys Diaz For Assignment

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The Cardinals have designated infielder Aledmys Diaz for assignment, MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch reports on Twitter. A 40-man spot was needed for the promotion of veteran first baseman Dan Johnson.

Per Langosch, St. Louis hopes that Diaz will clear waivers given that he’s still owed a significant amount of salary. The Cardinals signed Diaz as an amateur free agent in March of last year, guaranteeing him four years and $8MM.

After entering the year as the organization’s 11th-rated prospect in the eyes of Baseball America, the 24-year-old Diaz has taken a step back in 2015. Playing at Double-A, he owns a .235/.292/.344 slash over 268 plate appearances on the year. Those numbers are down from a partial showing in the minors last season, when he put up a .765 OPS in 125 turns at bat at the High-A and Double-A levels.

Baseball America noted in its evaluation that Diaz had a more advanced bat than glove, though the Cards have remained hopeful that he could turn into a big league shortstop. The youngster has spent virtually all of his time at short thus far as a professional. Over sixty games there this year, Diaz has committed eleven errors.

Cardinals, Dan Johnson Agree To Minors Deal

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Veteran first baseman Dan Johnson’s brush with free agency didn’t last long, as the recently released 35-year-old has agreed to a Minor League pact with the Cardinals, according to Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet (Twitter link).

Johnson, a client of Excel Sports Management, began the season with the Reds’ Triple-A affiliate, and although he collected 10 walks against nine strikeouts in 40 plate appearances, he also picked up just three hits — all singles. With Joey Votto seemingly healthy and productive in Cincinnati, there may not have been much of an opportunity for Johnson to make his way to the big league roster anyhow.

Of course, the path to the MLB roster in St. Louis may not necessarily be an easier one for Johnson. Matt Adams is hitting well at first base and, as a fellow lefty swinger, there’s no possibility of any platoon situation emerging between the two. Johnson will seemingly hope to re-emerge as a bench bat with the Cards. He’s a lifetime .236/.337/.409 hitter in 431 Major League games, and his excellent .279/.400/.505 career slash line at Triple-A makes him a nice depth piece for a club to have.

Minor Moves: Dan Johnson, Daniel Schlereth

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Here are some of the more notable Minor League transactions from around the league over the past week, courtesy of Baseball America’s Matt Eddy…

  • The Reds have released veteran first baseman Dan Johnson from Triple-A Louisville, per Eddy. Cincinnati acquired Johnson from Houston in Spring Training, and while the 35-year-old showed his typically discerning eye at the plate (10 walks vs. nine strikeouts in 40 plate appearances), he also picked up just three hits in 29 official at-bats for a .069 batting average. Johnson picked up 48 PAs for the Blue Jays last season and is a lifetime .236/.337/.409 hitter in 1604 PAs at the Major League level. Former Cubs/Red Sox right-hander Chris Carpenter (not to be confused with the former Cy Young winner of that same name, of course) was also released by the Reds after allowing 12 runs in 6 2/3 innings with Louisville.
  • After being released by the Tigers, left-hander Daniel Schlereth has signed a Minor League deal with the Cubs. Schlereth hasn’t appeared in the Majors since 2012 with Detroit, and his best season came in 2011 when he worked to a 3.49 ERA with 44 strikeouts against 31 walks in 49 innings.

Reds Acquire Dan Johnson From Astros

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The Reds announced that they’ve acquired veteran first baseman Dan Johnson from the Astros in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations. The 35-year-old had been with Houston on a minor league contract.

Johnson hasn’t seen much in the way of regular playing time since his tenure with the Athletics ended in 2008, but he’s appeared in the bigs in each season dating back to 2010. His 2014 work came north of the border, as he picked up 48 plate appearances for the Blue Jays and batted .211/.333/.342. The type of plate discipline and strike zone knowledge displayed by Johnson in that small sample is indicative of his career to date. Johnson has a 13.2 percent walk rate in 1604 Major League plate appearances and, perhaps not surprisingly, has walked six times in 25 plate appearances with Houston this spring. He’s also collected just three hits in 19 at-bats, however.

Johnson will report to minor league camp, the Reds have added, making his acquisition one for depth purposes. He reportedly has an opt-out date in his contract, but it does not come until after the season has started. Additionally, Johnson isn’t an Article XX(B) player, so the Reds wouldn’t need to offer him a $100K retention bonus to option him to Triple-A. Johnson had positive things to say about his brief time with the Astros, per the Houston Chronicle’s Evan Drellich.

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