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Junior Lake

Minor MLB Transactions: 2/14/18

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The latest minor moves from around the game….

Newest moves

  • The Mariners have agreed to sign outfielder Junior Lake to a minor league deal, the Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish reports.  Manager Scott Servais said that Lake’s deal contains an invitation to their big league Spring Training camp, and the contract will be official once Lake passes a physical.  Lake, who turns 28 next month, hit .235/.278/.376 over 703 plate appearances with the Cubs, Orioles, and Blue Jays from 2013-16, and he played for the Red Sox Triple-A affiliate and in the Mexican League last season.

Earlier today

  • The Diamondbacks have signed outfielder Daniel Robertson to a minor league deal, according to Baseball Prospectus Kansas City’s David Lesky (Twitter link).  Robertson, 32, has a .262/.314/.328 slash line over 386 career plate appearances in the big leagues, with four different clubs since 2014.  He most recently played for the Indians, appearing in 32 games for Cleveland last season.
  • The Rays have signed right-hander J.D. Martin to a minors deal, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports (via Twitter).  Martin tossed 125 innings for the Nationals as a starter in 2009-10 but hasn’t been back to the majors since, with stints in Korea and independent baseball as well as the affiliated minor leagues.  Rosenthal notes that Martin, who turned 35 last month, is trying to recast himself as a knuckleballer.

Minor MLB Transactions: 12/9/16

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Here are the day’s minor moves:

  • The Astros added infielder Reid Brignac on a minor-league deal, Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle reports on Twitter. His contract includes a spring invite. Brignac, 30, has bounced around quite a bit since his days as a frequent contributor to the Rays earlier in his career, appearing most recently with the Braves. The former top prospect has appeared in each of the last nine major league seasons, but hasn’t cracked 100 plate appearances in a single year since 2011. All told, Brignac owns a .219/.264/.309 batting line over 951 trips to the plate in the majors.

Earlier Moves

  • Southpaw Sean Burnett will head to camp with the Phillies, according to SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (via Twitter). If he can crack the roster, Burnett will receive a $1.25MM salary if and when he pitches in the majors, per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter links). The deal also includes $1.75MM in available incentives along with a March 26 opt-out date, per Nicholson-Smith. Burnett, 34, returned to the majors in 2016 with the Nationals after missing time due to injury. He posted a 3.18 ERA with three strikeouts and a walk over 5 2/3 innings across ten appearances in his return to D.C., and figures to have a shot at earning a lefty specialist role in Philadelphia.
  • The Braves have a minor-league deal in place to bring back infielder Emilio Bonifacio, Cotillo tweets. Now 31, Bonifacio has played in the majors in ten consecutive seasons. But his opportunities have dwindled of late, and he spent most of 2016 at Triple-A. In his 471 plate appearances at Gwinnett, Bonifacio slashed a solid .298/.356/.369. He could conceivably challenge for a utility role next spring.
  • Outfielder Junior Lake will join the Red Sox on a minor-league pact, per Cotillo (via Twitter). The 26-year-old, a right-handed hitter, cracked the majors briefly this past season with the Blue Jays and has appeared in each of the past four MLB campaigns. But Lake has seen only 51 games of action since playing an active reserve role for the Cubs in 2013-14. He hit .231/.314/.352 over 318 plate appearances last year at Triple-A.
  • Righty Logan Bawcom is headed to the Padres on a minor-league deal, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets. Bawcom has yet to crack the big leagues, but showed well in the upper minors last year in the Dodgers organization. Spending most of his time at Triple-A, the 28-year-old posted 98 innings of 1.93 ERA ball over a dozen starts and 24 relief appearances, with 7.3 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9.
  • The Mariners outrighted lefty Dean Kiekhefer, the club announced. He had recently been designated for assignment. A 22-inning MLB debut in 2016 didn’t go very well, as Kiekhefer pitched to a 5.32 ERA for the Cardinals, but he has posted sub-3.00 earned run averages in each of the past three seasons in the upper minors.
  • Catcher Johnny Monell is heading to Korea, but it’s the KT Wiz and not the NC Dinos who’ll sign him. Cotillo had reported a connection to the Changwon-based Dinos yesterday, but says that the destination changed after that arrangement fell through. (Twitter link.)

Blue Jays Designate Junior Lake For Assignment

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The Blue Jays have activated outfielder Ezequiel Carrera from the disabled list and designated fellow outfielder Junior Lake for assignment, as Shi Davidi of Sportsnet tweets.

Lake, 26, has already been designated for assignment and outrighted by the Blue Jays once this season but returned to the big league roster on Aug. 10 when Jose Bautista joined Carrera on the disabled list. His second stint with the Jays was more brief than his first, and he’s now appeared in a total of 22 games with Toronto this season but collected just 39 plate appearances. In that time, Lake has batted .200/.282/.371 with a homer and three doubles. Toronto will have 10 days to make a decision on Lake, though an outright seems likeliest considering the fact that he’s already accepted one such assignment this year. In 703 plate appearances spanning parts of four Major League seasons, Lake is a .235/.278/.376 hitter.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/1/16

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Let’s catch up on a few recent minor moves:

  • Kyle Lohse is back on the free agent market after refusing an outright assignment with the Rangers, per a team announcement. Lohse, 37, did not look good in his two outings for Texas, and was also struggling at Triple-A — albeit not nearly to the same extent — before his promotion. He nevertheless remains a plausible depth addition for teams needing innings over the next few months.
  • Recently claimed and then designated infielder Matt Duffy has been outrighted to Triple-A by the Rangers, the club also announced. The 27-year-old has had a rough year at the Triple-A level, posting a cumulative .222/.299/.344 slash over 301 plate appearances with the Rangers’ and Astros’ top affiliates.
  • The Marlins released veteran righty Jeremy Guthrie in the wake of its pitching overhaul, as the club’s Triple-A broadcaster, Tim Grubbs, reports in a tweet. Now 37 years of age, Guthrie has long provided plenty of innings to teams in need of them, but hasn’t seen the majors since he was cut loose by the Royals last year. He had caught on with Miami after opting out of his minor league deal with the Padres.
  • Utilityman Don Kelly has been outrighted by the Marlins, per a club announcement. The 36-year-old didn’t hit much in a limited sample in the majors this year, and owns only a .223/.288/.273 slash in his 153 Triple-A plate appearances on the season.
  • Joining the Tigers on a minor league deal is veteran lefty Cesar Ramos, the club announced. Ramos was just released by the Rangers. The 32-year-old put up a nice 2.75 ERA in 52 1/3 relief innings last year, but was touched for 32 earned runs in his 47 2/3 frames this season with Texas, posting 5.1 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9 in four starts and a dozen relief appearances.
  • The Blue Jays recently released catcher Tony Sanchez, as Sportsnet.ca duo Ben Nicholson-Smith and Shi Davidi report. He lost his spot at the Triple-A level when the club signed Erik Kratz. Once considered a quality prospect with the Pirates, Sanchez has scuffled to a .201/.292/.309 batting line this year in 168 trips to the plate at Triple-A.
  • Meanwhile, the Blue Jays announced that outfielder Junior Lake has been outrighted to Triple-A. Lake has seen action in each of the last four major league campaigns, putting up a .236/.279/.377 overall batting line in 702 plate appearances. He was producing right at that rate during his limited time in Toronto.

Blue Jays Designate Junior Lake For Assignment

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The Blue Jays have designated outfielder Junior Lake for assignment in order to clear a spot on the roster for right fielder Jose Bautista, who has been activated from the disabled list, tweets Brendan Kennedy of the Toronto Star.

Lake, 26, appeared in 19 games with the Jays this season, though he totaled just 38 plate appearances and batted a paltry .206/.289/.382 in his short stay north of the border. Lake first debuted with the Cubs back in 2013 at the age of 23 and posted an impressive .284/.332/.428 batting line with six homers in 254 plate appearances. That production, though, was buoyed by a .377 BABIP that he’s never since come close to replicating. Lake has also demonstrated a prolonged susceptibility to strikeouts in the Majors, having punched out in 31.1 percent of his plate appearances as a big leaguer. All told, he’s a career .236/.279/.377 hitter in the Majors.

Bautista returns to the Blue Jays from a foot injury that has sidelined him since mid-June. Bautista is getting on base at a strong clip and hitting for power, but his .230/.360/.455 slash line is a departure from his recent seasons of excellence. He’ll hope for better results over the season’s final two and a half months as looks to bolster his stock heading into the free agent market.

Minor MLB Transactions: 4/4/16

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Here are the latest minor moves from around the league…

  • The Blue Jays outrighted Jesus Montero and Junior Lake to Triple-A Buffalo over the weekend, as MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm writes. Both were picked up by Toronto on waivers, and each went unclaimed after the Jays again ran them through waivers shortly thereafter, allowing Toronto to retain the pair despite both being out of minor league options. Montero, of course, was formerly one of baseball’s elite prospects in his Yankees days, and he went to Seattle in the now-lopsided Michael Pineda swap. The catcher-turned-first-baseman has yet to hit much in the Majors and was waived by Seattle this spring, though he could emerge as a nice platoon option in Toronto at the very least. At 26, it’s not out of the question that he could still emerge as a productive bat. (Toronto has had its share of success in late-blooming right-handed sluggers, after all.) Lake, meanwhile, enjoyed a strong rookie season with the Cubs in 2013 when he hit .284/.332/.428 in 254 plate appearances. However, the outfielder has batted just .209/.244/.345 in 410 PAs since that time. Like Montero, he’s 26 years of age and will hope for a shot at establishing himself in the hitter-friendly confines of Toronto’s Rogers Centre at some point this season.
  • The Twins released left-hander Aaron Thompson out of minor league camp at the end of Spring Training, as Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press writes. The 29-year-old Thompson broke camp with Minnesota in 2015 and wound up tallying 32 1/3 innings as a member of the Twins bullpen. However, after allowing one run in his first 11 innings (buoyed by an unsustainable .129 BABIP), Thompson logged a 7.17 ERA over 21 1/3 subsequent innings through mid-July before ultimately being sent down and outrighted. He’d re-signed with the Twins on a minor league deal this winter and will now look for a club in need of some left-handed ’pen depth, presumably.

Blue Jays Claim Junior Lake

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The Blue Jays have claimed outfielder Junior Lake off waivers from the Orioles, Bruce Levine of 670thescore.com reports on Twitter. Baltimore had recently designated Lake for assignment.

Lake did not play much in the majors last year, spending most of the season at Triple-A. In 355 plate appearances there, he put up a strong .298/.397/.431 slash. But Leake hasn’t quite produced at that level in the majors. Over the last three years, he’s managed a .237/.278/.377 slash in 664 trips to the plate.

It’s not clear yet what Toronto’s intentions are with Lake, but he offers some flexibility for a team that could consider dealing from its outfield depth. As things stand, Ben Revere, Kevin Pillar, Michael Saunders, and Dalton Pompey look like the top candidates to join Jose Bautista in the outfield, and it’s possible to imagine the club attempting to cash in one of those players to address another need (or free up resources to do so). Adding Lake certainly doesn’t force a move, but could help facilitate one.

Orioles Claim Edgar Olmos, Designate Junior Lake

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The Orioles announced that they have claimed lefty Edgar Olmos off waivers from the Cubs. Baltimore designated outfielder Junior Lake for assignment to clear roster space.

Olmos, 25, has bounced around via the waiver wire quite a bit in recent years. In fact, Chicago claimed him less than a week ago and obviously sought to stash him with a well-timed outright. Olmos has spent little time in the majors, but has shown an average fastball velocity of over 93 mph and put up a solid 3.55 ERA with 9.3 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9 at Triple-A last year.

Baltimore had acquired Lake last summer in the trade that sent Tommy Hunter to the Cubs. He saw minimal MLB action in 2015 after having factored as a frequent contributor in 2013-14. Lake slashed .298/.397/.431 in his 355 Triple-A plate appearances last year, but has done little at the major league level since a strong debut season.

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