Cubs Trade Luis Torrens To Orioles
The Orioles have acquired catcher Luis Torrens from the Cubs in exchange for cash, per a team announcement. Right-hander Joey Krehbiel was designated for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
Torrens, 26, signed a minor league deal with the Cubs in the offseason. He appeared in 13 games for them this season but tallied only 22 plate appearances, going 5-for-20 with a double, a walk and eight strikeouts in that time (.250/.318/.300).
Prior to that brief run in Chicago, Torrens spent two years with the Mariners after coming over alongside Ty France and Andres Munoz in the trade sending Austin Nola, Austin Adams and Dan Altavilla to the Padres. In 799 Major League plate appearances, he’s a .227/.289/.352 hitter with 19 long balls, a 26% strikeout rate and a 7.8% walk rate. While he wasn’t especially productive in his time with Seattle, he did make a fair bit of hard contact, averaging 91 mph off the bat and putting 45.7% of his batted balls in play at an exit velocity of at least 95 mph.
Defensively, Torrens has drawn below-average grades from Defensive Runs Saved and most pitch-framing metrics. He has a career 21.7% caught-stealing rate that’s below the league average, and he came up empty in his only attempt to throw a runner out with the Cubs. He did throw out nine of 28 attempted thieves (32.1%) as recently as last season.
Torrens is out of minor league options, so the Orioles will carry him on the big league roster. That’ll give them three catching options, as he’ll join 2022 Rookie of the Year runner-up Adley Rutschman and veteran James McCann on Baltimore’s roster.
Krehbiel, 30, hasn’t pitched in the Majors this season but logged 57 2/3 innings out of Baltimore’s bullpen in 2022, notching a solid 3.90 ERA with a below-average 18.4% strikeout rate but a sharp 7.4% walk rate. Overall, her has a 3.78 ERA in 69 Major League frames between the D-backs, Rays and O’s.
The 2023 season has been rough for Krehbiel, however. While he’s sporting a 2.00 ERA in nine Triple-A frames, he’s also walked more batters (seven) than he’s struck out (six) and has plunked another hitter. That’s nearly 22% of Krehbiel’s opponents that have either drawn a free pass or reached via hit-by-pitch. Even beyond those command woes, Krehbiel’s broader numbers in Triple-A (5.34 ERA in 175 1/3 innings) are actually worse than his big league output.
The Orioles will have a week to trade Krehbiel or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. He’s been outrighted once before, so even if he goes unclaimed, he’d have the right to elect free agency if he chooses.
Orioles Activate Joey Krehbiel, Option Logan Gillaspie
The Orioles have activated Joey Krehbiel from the 15-day injured list and placed him on the active roster. Right-hander Logan Gillaspie was optioned to Triple-A to make room, per the team.
Gillaspie, 25, has made 11 appearances spanning 10 1/3 innings with a 4.35 ERA/3.23 FIP. This year is his first with big-league experience. He has also made nine appearances in Triple-A with a 3.14 ERA over 14 1/3 innings.
Krehbiel, 29, has been an active participant out of the bullpen for the Orioles this season, appearing in 22 games. He’s pitched to a 2.74 ERA, but just 4.48 FIP across 23 innings with a 16-to-8 strikeout-to-walk ratio. The Orioles claimed Krehbiel off waivers from the Rays last September.
Orioles Designate Cesar Valdez For Assignment
The Orioles announced Wednesday that right-hander Cesar Valdez has been designated for assignment for a second time this season. Baltimore also recalled second baseman Jahmai Jones and righty Konner Wade from Triple-A Norfolk, optioned right-hander Joey Krehbiel to Norfolk and placed infielder Ramon Urias on the 10-day injured list due to a right adductor strain.
Valdez, 36, only had his contract selected back to the big league roster yesterday. It’ll be a daylong stint on the MLB roster for the righty, who pitched two-thirds of an inning in last night’s game and surrendered two runs (one earned) on a hit and a walk. Valdez has now been scored upon in six of his past seven Major League appearances and 12 of his past 19 dating back to June 1.
Up to that point, Valdez had emerged as an unlikely closer in Baltimore. The journeyman right-hander notched eight saves for the O’s through the season’s first five weeks and carried a 1.23 ERA into mid-May before a swift collapse cost him the closer’s gig and eventually his spot on the roster. Dating back to May 11, Valdez has been tagged for 28 earned runs on 51 hits and 11 walks with 28 strikeouts through 31 1/3 innings. The O’s will either place him on outright waivers or release waivers within the next couple of days.
Given the timing of the Urias IL placement, it seems quite possible that this injury will end his season. He’s somewhat quietly had a nice run as a utility option with the O’s since making his MLB debut last summer, as the 27-year-old has batted .286/.365/.425 with eight home runs and 16 doubles in his first 323 big league plate appearances. A .376 average on balls in play has surely helped his cause, but Urias also owns an impressive 25 percent line-drive rate and a 42.9 percent hard-hit rate.
Urias has split his time between second base, shortstop and third base, although he doesn’t have particularly strong grades. Still, his solid showing at the plate to date suggests he could be a bat-first utility option for the O’s moving forward.
Orioles Claim Joey Krehbiel, Designate Manny Barreda
The Orioles have claimed right-hander Joey Krehbiel off waivers from the Rays and designated right-hander Manny Barreda, per a club announcement. The O’s also announced that righty Dusten Knight, who was designated for assignment over the weekend, has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Norfolk.
Krehbiel, 28, pitched a scoreless inning during his lone appearance with the Rays this season, whiffing a pair and issuing a walk. He’s spent the rest of the 2021 season with Tampa Bay’s Triple-A affiliate, logging a 4.19 ERA with a sizable 29.5 percent strikeout rate and a tiny 5.1 percent walk rate through 43 innings. It’s the fourth season that Krehbiel has logged some time in Triple-A, and he’s fanned 26.1 percent of the opponents he’s faced at that level in his career. Krehbiel has just four big league innings under his belt, but he’s yet to allow a run in that time.
Barreda, 33 next month, recently had his contract selected and made his big league debut. He allowed four runs in 2 2/3 innings over the life of three appearances prior to today’s DFA — a brief debut for a player who has grinded through parts of 11 minor league seasons as well as five full seasons pitching in Mexico. He’s posted a 3.89 ERA in 39 1/3 innings between the Double-A and Triple-A affiliates for the O’s, and he carries a career 3.45 ERA in just over 500 minor league innings.
Like Barreda, Knight was another 30-something rookie who made his big league debut in 2021. He’s notched an even 3.00 ERA in 36 Triple-A frames this season but was tagged for 10 runs (nine earned) in 8 2/3 frames during his own brief look at the MLB level. He’ll remain with the Orioles organization for the remainder of the year, at least, but he’ll be a minor league free agent at season’s end.
Rays Reinstate Shane McClanahan, Kevin Kiermaier; Designate Joey Krehbiel
The Rays have reinstated left-hander Shane McClanahan from the 10-day injured list and outfielder Kevin Kiermaier from the COVID-related injury list. In corresponding moves, right-hander Joey Krehbiel has been designated for assignment while righty Louis Head has once again been optioned to Triple-A Durham. (Rays broadcaster Neil Solondz was among those to report the news.)
McClanahan is scheduled to start today’s game against the Tigers, and the southpaw will return after a minimal 10-day IL visit due to lower back tightness. McClanahan has enjoyed a lot of success in his first MLB season, posting a 3.59 ERA/3.62 SIERA and very solid strikeout (27.5%) and walk (7.3%) rates over 22 starts and 110 1/3 innings. While McClanahan allows a lot of hard contact, it hasn’t translated into much extra damage — if anything, McClanahan’s .339 BABIP indicates he has perhaps been a little unlucky.
While 2021 marked McClanahan’s first taste of regular season action, he actually made his big league debut during last year’s playoffs, delivering an 8.31 ERA over 4 1/3 innings. The Rays will be hoping for much more from McClanahan in this year’s postseason, as the left-hander projects to be one of the few pitchers on Tampa’s roster that might be used more or less in a traditional starting role, though the Rays are likely to be very flexible in how they deploy their arms.
Kiermaier returns after a one-day precautionary stay on the COVID-IL, and Krehbiel (who was added to the active roster in Kiermaier’s place and demoted to Triple-A after Saturday’s game) will now hit the DFA wire. Krehbiel’s one official day as a Ray saw him toss a scoreless inning in Saturday’s 4-3 loss to Detroit, and it gave Krehbiel his first appearance in a Major League game since 2018, when he was a member of the Diamondbacks.
Krehbiel now has four total innings over his MLB career, to go along with 492 career innings in the minors while pitching in the Angels, Diamondbacks, and Rays organizations. Krehbiel has a 4.19 ERA in 43 innings at Triple-A Durham this year, with a 29.5% strikeout rate and 5.1% walk rate. These numbers could attract some attention on the waiver wire for the 28-year-old Krehbiel, if another team thinks he could be a late bloomer as a relief pitcher.
AL Roster Notes: Yankees, Rays, Angels, Rangers
The Yankees optioned Luis Gil to Triple-A after today’s ballgame, per the team. A corresponding move is likely to follow tomorrow. Gil started today’s game, an 11-3 loss to Cleveland. Though today’s outing ended poorly, Gil had given the Yanks five very strong starts. He logged a 2.88 ERA/3.96 FIP in 25 innings heading into today’s ballgame.
Let’s check in on some other roster moves made today around the Junior Circuit…
- The Rays optioned righty Joey Krehbiel to Triple-A today after making his Rays’ debut, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). The move is likely a precursor to the call-up of top prospect Shane Baz, whose debut is scheduled for Monday. Krehbiel, 28, tossed a scoreless inning today, striking out two while walking one.
- The Angels demoted yesterday’s starter Jhonathan Diaz to Triple-A, recalling Cooper Criswell in his place, the team announced. Diaz made his Major League debut last night, giving up two earned runs on two hits and four walks while striking out two over 1 2/3 innings. Criswell made his own debut under similar circumstances earlier this year, giving up three earned runs in 1 1/3 innings in his lone start on the year.
- The Rangers have sent Matt Bush out on a rehab assignment to Triple-A, per the team. Bush has been on the shelf since April 8 with a right elbow flexor strain. He made just three appearances in what had been his first big league action since 2018. The 35-year-old former first overall draft pick has 139 career appearances – all with the Rangers – and a 3.47 ERA/3.88 FIP over 140 career innings.
Rays Place Kevin Kiermaier On COVID List, Select Joey Krehbiel
1:43PM: Rays manager Kevin Cash told reporters (including The Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin) that Kiermaier is receiving another COVID test today, and already tested negative during the Rays’ series against the Blue Jays earlier this week. The team’s feeling is that Kiermaier likely has a non-COVID sickness.
12:03PM: The Rays have placed outfielder Kevin Kiermaier on the COVID-related injury list. Right-hander Joey Krehbiel‘s contract has been selected from Triple-A to take Kiermaier’s spot on the active roster.
The official announcement from the team says that Kiermaier has been sidelined due to “general illness/symptoms,” without mention of a positive test. Of course, league protocols stipulate that positive COVID-19 tests don’t need to be publicly announced without the player’s permission. Kiermaier’s placement could simply be precautionary in nature while he recovers from a non-COVID illness, so he could be back on the field in only a day or two.
Kiermaier has previously visited the regular injured list twice this season, though both stints (for a quad strain and a wrist sprain) ended up being pretty close to the 10-day minimum in terms of missed time. The 31-year-old is hitting .247/.310/.369 with four home runs over 355 plate appearances this season, and is having what has become a typical Kiermaier year — slightly below-average offense, and superb defense. Kiermaier’s center field glovework has been as stellar as ever, thus making him a 2.0 fWAR player over 110 games even factoring in his 89 wRC+.
After tossing three innings over two games with the Diamondbacks in 2018, Krehbiel is now back for another taste of the Show. Originally a 12th-round pick for the Angels back in the 2011 draft, Krehbiel has worked almost exclusively as a reliever over his 10 minor league seasons, and struggled once hitting the Triple-A level in Arizona’s farm system in 2018-19.
Krehbiel signed a minor league deal with Tampa Bay this past offseason, and has posted some much more intriguing numbers at Triple-A Durham. The righty has a 4.19 ERA over 43 innings, plus a 29.5% strikeout rate and 5.1% walk rate, with the improved control being particularly notable since walks were an issue for Krehbiel in his past Triple-A action. Given how the Rays cycle through relief arms, Krehbiel might only be in for another cup of coffee in the majors, or the Rays might give Krehbiel some extra work while saving other relievers for the postseason.
Rays Add Four Pitchers On Minor League Deals
The Rays are reported to be nearing a big league deal with veteran righty Collin McHugh, but they’ve also been active in minor league free agency this week. Tampa Bay has agreed to non-roster invitations with lefty Brian Moran and right-handers Joey Krehbiel and Louis Head, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. They’ve also signed righty Stetson Allie to a minor league deal and Spring Training invite, as announced by agent Gavin Kahn on Twitter.
Each of Moran and Krehbiel have some big league experience under their belts. Moran, the older brother of Pirates first baseman Colin Moran, has pitched 11 innings between the Marlins and Blue Jays over the past two seasons. He’s surrendered eight runs in that time and displayed some problematic control (14.5 percent walk rate, three hit batters, three wild pitches), but Moran has also whiffed 31 percent of opponents. The 32-year-old has pitched in parts of five Triple-A seasons with a 3.67 ERA and 30.2 percent strikeout rate.
The 28-year-old Krehbiel tossed three scoreless frames for the 2018 D-backs but hasn’t made it back to the Majors since that time. Like Moran, Krehbiel has some bat-missing ability (25 percent strikeout rate in Triple-A) but problematic control that has held him back (12.5 percent walk rate in Triple-A).
Allie may be a familiar name to some due to his status as a once-touted pitching prospect. The 2010 second-rounder was considered one of the top high school arms in the draft and landed on a few Top 100 lists before injuries stalled his career. Allie pivoted and tried to make it as a first baseman/outfielder for several years before returning to the mound on a full-time basis in 2018. He’s spent time with the Pirates, who drafted him, and the Dodgers. He’s yet to make it to the big leagues, but the Rays will hope to coax another level out of the now-29-year-old righty, whose fastball has in the past reached triple digits.
Head, a longtime Indians farmhand who spent 2019 with the Dodgers organization as well, is a career reliever who posted strong numbers through Double-A but hasn’t yet matched that success in Triple-A. He has a 5.46 ERA in 90 2/3 frames of Triple-A ball while striking out just shy of a quarter of opponents against an 11.5 percent walk rate he’ll need to reduce.
Twins Announce Several Minor League Signings
The Twins organization has agreed to seven more minor league deals with free agents, Triple-A Rochester director of communications Nate Rowan announced Tuesday. Right-handers Juan Minaya, Austin D. Adams, Casey Lawrence, Parker Bridwell, Alec Asher and Joey Krehbiel all agreed to deals with the Twins, as did infielder Calten Daal.
Minaya, 29, spent the past four seasons with the division-rival White Sox and logged significant innings in each of the past three. From 2017-19, Minaya pitched to a 3.89 ERA (4.19 FIP) with 10.4 K/9, 4.7 BB/9 and 1.1 HR/9 in 118 innings of relief for the South Siders. His average heater was down about a mile per hour in 2019, sitting at 93.4 mph, but Minaya has a steady track record of missing bats while displaying sub-par control.
Adams, 33, made a pair of appearances with the Twins and tallied 14 frames with the Tigers but allowed 13 runs in 16 2/3 frames overall. He struggled in Triple-A as well, but this will be his third stint in the Twins organization, so the club’s decision-makers clearly see something they feel they can work with even if his recent results have been poor.
Bridwell, 28, pitched 121 innings of 3.64 ERA ball with the 2017 Angels, although his secondary numbers never really supported that mark. The righty averaged just 5.4 K/9 against 2.2 BB/9 with an elevated 1.41 HR/9 rate and 38.1 percent ground-ball rate in ’17, causing FIP (4.84), xFIP (5.07) and SIERA (5.06) to view him in a less favorable light. Bridwell has an ERA north of 8.00 in a pair of injury-shortened Triple-A seasons since that time.
The 32-year-old Lawrence had a rough season in Japan in 2019 and returns to affiliated ball after just one year overseas. He spent 2017-18 in Seattle, where he soaked up 78 2/3 innings in a long relief/spot-starting role but limped to a 6.64 ERA along the way. Lawrence does have a respectable 3.73 ERA with 7.0 K/9 against 1.7 BB/9 in 262 2/3 Triple-A innings in his career.
Asher has just three MLB innings since 2017 and, in total, has a 5.42 ERA in 119 2/3 innings between the Phillies, Orioles and Brewers. The former Rangers prospect went to the Phils as part of the Cole Hamels deal several years ago, but he’s yet to find success in the bigs while serving mostly as a fifth starter/long reliever. The 28-year-old spent most of 2019 with the Atlantic League’s Long Island Ducks, working to a 3.12 ERA in 37 1/3 frames.
Krehbiel, meanwhile, has just three big league innings to his name but has averaged just under 11 strikeouts per nine innings in his minor league career. Daal, 26, is a middle infielder who never cracked the Majors after seven seasons in the Reds organization. He’s consistently posted solid batting averages but limited on-base percentages and well below-average power numbers.
Post-Deadline Outrights: Flynn, De La Cruz, Guerra, Blazek
In the immediate aftermath of the trade deadline, a handful of clubs cleared 40-man roster space with a series of designations. Many of those players have since cleared waivers, and we’ll round up those minor moves here…
Latest Moves
- The Royals announced that southpaw Brian Flynn was outrighted to Triple-A after clearing waivers. Flynn has a 5.22 ERA over 29 1/3 innings for K.C. this season, a disappointing result for a reliever who posted solid numbers out of the Royals’ bullpen in both 2016 and 2018.
Earlier Today
- Cubs minor-league right-hander Oscar de la Cruz has cleared waivers. The 24 year-old has seen his once-lofty prospect status deteriorate due to a combination of injuries, command woes, and a suspension for a masking agent. He’ll remain with the club’s AA affiliate in the Southern League.
- Nationals right-handers Javy Guerra and Michael Blazek each cleared waivers and were outrighted to Triple-A Fresno. Because each veteran has previously been outrighted, they may elect free agency, but the shaky Washington bullpen could plausibly offer them the best opportunity to return to the big leagues in short order.
- Giants right-handed reliever Dan Winkler was outrighted. San Francisco acquired him as a salary offset in the Mark Melancon trade but never had any interest in letting him see the field amidst a disappointing 2019 season. Winkler can elect free agency because he has over three years of MLB service.
- Rockies left-handed relief arm Harrison Musgrave will remain on hand at Triple-A Albuquerque after clearing. The 27 year-old has had little success in 45 MLB games in Colorado over the past two seasons.
- Diamondbacks right-hander Joey Krehbiel will remain on-hand at Triple-A Reno. Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel named the 26 year-old reliever a prospect to watch thanks to a plus changeup preseason, but he’s had a nightmarish season in the Pacific Coast League.
- Veteran catcher Tim Federowicz has cleared. The backstop had been playing for the Rangers, but he may elect to catch on elsewhere on a minor-league deal.
- Phillies corner infielder Mitch Walding has also cleared waivers. He’ll remain in Triple-A Lehigh Valley, where he’s struggled to make contact in 2019.
- Eric Stamets, the Indians‘ Opening Day shortstop, has cleared as well. The 27 year-old has put up anemic offensive numbers with Triple-A Columbus, where he’ll continue to try to right the ship, over the past two seasons.