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Kirk Nieuwenhuis

Retirements: Stewart, Nieuwenhuis

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A couple of former role players are leaving the game…

  • Longtime catcher Chris Stewart has called it quits, Andy Martino of SNY tweets. Stewart entered the pros as a 12th-round pick of the White Sox in 2001 and went on to play with them as well as the Rangers, Yankees, Padres, Giants, Pirates, Braves and Diamondbacks from 2006-18. Although Stewart hit just .230/.297/.291 with nine home runs in 1,334 major league plate appearances, he earned the trust of plenty of teams behind the plate. The 37-year-old threw out 28 percent of would-be base stealers and garnered high marks from Baseball Prospectus’ Fielding Runs Above Average metric.
  • Long Island Ducks outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis has also retired, the team announced. The former Met, 31, gave up baseball on the four-year anniversary of his personal masterpiece – a three-home run game against the Diamondbacks on July 12, 2015. Nieuwenheis was a third-round pick of the Mets in 2008 who also went on to see MLB action with the Brewers and Angels. He combined to hit .221/.311/.384 with 31 homers and 20 stolen bases over 1,116 plate appearances from 2012-17. Nieuwenhuis spent a greater amount of time at the Triple-A level, batting .253/.348/.441 with 49 HRs and 27 steals in 1,616 PA.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/14/18

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There are quite a few minor moves to cover, with Baseball America’s Matt Eddy releasing several weeks’ worth of transactions. We’ll use this post to cover the most notable ones that haven’t yet featured on MLBTR:

  • The Angels released outfielder Ben Revere, who could perhaps be an interesting player to target for contending clubs that like the idea of adding a good defender and baserunning threat to their system. Revere, 30, hasn’t seen the majors this year after seven-straight seasons of action at the game’s highest level. He’s slashing .277/.319/.406 with a pair of steals through 166 plate appearances at Triple-A.
  • Ending a relationship that never seemed to work out, the Dodgers have cut loose infielder Erisbel Arruebarrena. Now 28, the former international signee hadn’t played much in the club’s system since he was suspended in May of 2016.
  • The Phillies have released a pair of former big leaguers: infielder Danny Espinosa and outfielder Adron Chambers. Espinosa’s always fickle bat has not yet recovered from a 2017 nosedive. In 240 Triple-A plate appearances with three organizations this year, he owns a .295/.239/.312 slash. Chambers, meanwhile, hasn’t seen the majors since 2013 and last played affiliated ball in 2015, but came back from an indy stint to produce a .278/.328/.437 batting line in 138 Triple-A plate appearances.
  • A host of players received their walking papers from the Diamondbacks. Righty Brian Ellington is among them; the flamethrower struggled badly with his command in limited minor-league action. Southpaw Anthony Vasquez was also released after after 85 2/3 innings of 5.04 ERA ball in the upper minors. The club also dropped several outfielders. Cesar Puello (.317/.426/.454) and Dan Robertson (.263/.361/.407) are both former big leaguers who were getting on base at Reno, but will now seek other opportunities.
  • The Giants released two notable players in righty Chris Heston and backstop Ryan Hanigan. Heston, 30, only made nine appearances in the minors this year owing to injury. Hanigan, who’s closing in on his 38th birthday, is still looking to crack the majors for the 12th-straight season but did not help his cause with a .175/.254/.193 batting line in 63 plate appearances at Triple-A.
  • The Cubs parted with Ryan Webb after he made just 11 appearances at the Rookie ball level. It is not immediately clear why the 32-year-old did not get a shot in the upper minors, or what’s next for him In eight seasons of MLB pitching, from 2009 through 2016, Webb owns a 3.43 ERA through 393 1/3 innings.
  • A variety of other former major-league relief pitchers were also on the move. Among them: The White Sox signed once-promising Braves reliever Mauricio Cabrera. Righty Dallas Beeler was released by the Royals. A trio of former MLB lefties are back in free agency after being cut free: Elvis Araujo (Orioles); Paco Rodriguez (Twins); and Dario Alvarez (Mariners).
  • Meanwhile, the Mariners parted with outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis and the Nationals did the same with Alejandro De Aza. One-time Rule 5 pick Taylor Featherston landed with the Reds.

Mariners Release Kirk Nieuwenhuis

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The Mariners have released veteran outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis from their Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma, as tweeted by Rainiers broadcaster Mike Curto,

Nieuwenhuis, 31 next week, has had a tough season in spite of an outstanding 14.8 percent walk rate, hitting just .214/.336/.336 in 324 trips to the plate. While he’s appeared at all three outfield positions with the Rainiers in 2018, the vast majority of his time has been spent in right field. The longtime Mets outfielder has seen his strikeout rates in the upper minors climb at an alarming rate over the past few seasons, culminating in this year’s career-worst 30.6 percent mark.

That said, Nieuwenhuis has a lifetime .253/.348/.441 mark in parts of eight seasons at the Triple-A level and comes with plenty of MLB experience as well. He’s logged just over 1100 plate appearances between the Mets, Brewers and Angels, hitting at a .221/.311/.384 clip. He averaged 80 games and 217 PAs per year at the MLB level from 2012-16 and appeared in 16 games with 31 PAs as a member of the Brewers organization in 2017. He’ll probably latch on elsewhere as a depth option for a club that’s thin on outfield depth, with the hopes of returning the bigs for a seventh consecutive season.

Minor MLB Transactions: 11/14/17

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

  • The Mariners have agreed to a minor league pact with veteran outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis, tweets SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo. The 30-year-old received just 31 big league plate appearances in Milwaukee this past season but has been a frequent contributor with the Brewers and Mets dating back to the 2012 season. The Mariners are known to be on the lookout for center field depth with Jarrod Dyson’s potential departure, and Nieuwenhuis is capable of playing all three outfield spots. He’s a career .221/.311/.384 hitter in 1116 plate appearances at the big league level.
  • The Nationals have re-signed veteran outfielder Ryan Raburn to a minor league pact, as first mentioned by Tyler Poitras on Twitter. Set to turn 37 next April, the right-handed-hitting Raburn has long been a thorn in the side of left-handed pitching with a lifetime .259/.338/.480 batting line when holding the platoon advantage. Raburn logged just 69 plate appearances with the Nats in ’17 due in part to a strained trapezius muscle, posting a .262/.304/.431 triple slash with a pair of homers in that short sample.
  • MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon reports (via Twitter) that the Reds have signed lefty Joe Mantiply to a minor league deal and invited him to Major League Spring Training. The soft-tossing 26-year-old southpaw got a brief cup of coffee with the Tigers in 2016, tossing 2 2/3 innings at the MLB level. Mantiply spent the ’17 season with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate, tossing 70 innings with 8.0 K/9, 2.3 BB/9 and a 49.3 percent ground-ball rate en route to a 2.83 ERA. He’ll look to break into a Reds relief corps that, at present, looks to be somewhat unsettled, though Cincinnati will undoubtedly add some pieces over the course of the offseason.

Five Brewers Minor Leaguers Select Free Agency

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Right-handers Wily Peralta, Rob Scahill, Michael Blazek, David Goforth, and outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis have all elected to become free agents, as per the Brewers’ player development Twitter feed (tip of the hat to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy).

Peralta is the most notable name of the bunch, as it wasn’t long ago that the righty looked like a promising part of Milwaukee’s rotation.  After posting solid numbers in 2013-14, however, Peralta’s form dipped the next two seasons and then cratered this year, as he managed only a 7.85 ERA over 57 1/3 IP, with 10 homers and 32 walks in that stretch.  Peralta wasn’t helped by a month-long DL stint due to a calf strain, but his performance also fell off at the Triple-A level over the last two seasons.

His struggles got him designated for assignment and then outrighted off Milwaukee’s 40-man roster over the summer, which allowed Peralta to elect free agency even though he still had two remaining years of team control thanks to Super Two status.  Peralta and the Brewers avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $4.275MM deal last winter.

Blazek was twice DFA’ed and then outrighted off Milwaukee’s roster this season, so it perhaps isn’t surprising that he’s looking for a chance of scenery, especially given his displeasure at being demoted to the minors during Spring Training.  Blazek only made five appearances (one of them a start) for the Brewers in 2017, posting an 8.31 ERA over 8 2/3 innings of work.  The righty posted very effective numbers out of Milwaukee’s bullpen in 2015 but ran into some injury problems and struggled in 2016.

Scahill was also twice designated for assignment this season, plus once more back in February.  The 30-year-old tossed 22 1/3 innings for the Brew Crew, posting a 4.43 ERA despite recording the same number of strikeouts (10) as walks, though four of those free passes were intentional.  Never one to miss many bats over his six years in the bigs, Scahill nevertheless posted a solid 3.03 ERA over 65 1/3 innings for the Pirates and Brewers in 2015-16.

Nieuwenhuis agreed to a split contract last winter and spent much of the season at Triple-A, only appearing in 16 big league games.  Nieuwenhuis received the most playing time of his six-year career in 2016 (125 games and 392 PA) but became an afterthought this year as the Crew had more outfield depth.

Goforth appeared in just one game for the Brewers in 2017, and has 36 1/3 Major League innings to his name after appearing in parts of the last three seasons.  The right-hander has a 3.96 ERA over 533 2/3 career frames in the minors (all in the Milwaukee organization), though he has had increasing control issues and a lack of strikeouts over the last couple of years.

Brewers Outright Wily Peralta, Kirk Nieuwenhuis

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The Brewers announced today that right-hander Wily Peralta and outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis have both cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Colorado Springs.

The 28-year-old Peralta was designated for assignment on Saturday, and Milwaukee was apparently unable to find a taker for him in any trade talks that may have occurred. No team felt comfortable claiming the remaining $1.4MM on his $4.275MM salary, either, so Peralta will return to the Brewers’ Triple-A affiliate.

While the fact that Peralta has more than three years of Major League service time allows him to refuse the outright assignment, the fact that he has fewer than five years of service also means that he would forfeit that remaining $1.4MM in order to hit the free-agent market. Peralta will earn that $1.4MM through season’s end whether he’s on the 40-man roster or not, but if he isn’t on the 40-man at the end of the year, he’ll have the right to elect free agency.

It’s been a tough year for Milwaukee’s former Opening Day starter. Peralta posted a 6.08 ERA with a 32-to-17 K/BB ratio through eight starts this season before losing his spot in the rotation and heading to the bullpen. While his strikeout rate and velocity ticked up working in relief, his walk rate also ballooned. Ultimately, Peralta surrendered 23 earned runs on 28 hits and 15 walks in just 17 1/3 frames out of the Brewer bullpen.

As for Nieuwenhuis, the veteran outfielder spent most of the 2016 campaign on the Brewers’ big league roster but has just 16 games and 31 plate appearances to his credit thus far in 2017. He’s hit just .115/.268/.269 in that time, though he’s a career .221/.311/.384 hitter in parts of six big league seasons. He’s in a similar situation to Peralta in that he agreed to a split deal this past winter that reportedly pays him $900K in the Majors and $257K in the minors (each pro-rated). He’d have forfeited the remainder of that contract had he gone the free-agent route.

Brewers Designate Kirk Nieuwenhuis For Assignment

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The Brewers have designated outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis for assignment, the team announced (via Twitter).  The move creates 25-man roster space for Jeremy Jeffress, who was acquired by Milwaukee earlier today.

This is the second time Nieuwenhuis has entered DFA limbo this season, as the outfielder was previously designated and then outrighted off Milwaukee’s roster in April.  Nieuwenhuis will again have the option of rejecting an outright assignment (if he isn’t claimed or a trade isn’t worked out) to become a free agent, though he chose to remain in the Brewers organization during his first outright.

Nieuwenhuis just had his contract purchased by the Brewers two days ago when Milwaukee designated Wily Peralta for an assignment.  In 16 games and 31 overall plate appearances for the Crew this year, Nieuwenhuis has just a .115/.258/.269 slash line.  The six-year veteran played in a career-high 125 games for the Brewers in 2016, getting some playing time for the rebuilding club after four previous seasons as a part-timer with the Mets and Angels.

Brewers Designate Wily Peralta For Assignment

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The Brewers have announced that they’ve designated righty Wily Peralta for assignment. The move clears space on their active and 40-man rosters for outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis, whose contract they’ve selected from Triple-A Colorado Springs.

Peralta had been a longtime member of the Brewers’ rotation, making 120 starts since his MLB debut with the club in 2012. He typically pitched serviceably or downright well, as he did in 2014, when he produced a 3.54 ERA, 7.0 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 over nearly 200 innings.

This year, however, has been disastrous for Peralta — he has a 7.85 ERA, 8.2 K/9 and 5.0 BB/9 over 57 1/3 frames, with many of those coming in relief. He also only recently returned after missing a month due to a calf issue. He’s making $4.275MM in his second year through the arbitration process as a Super Two player, so it’s highly unlikely he’ll be claimed on waivers.

Brewers Outright Kirk Nieuwenhuis

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The Brewers have outrighted outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis to Triple-A Colorado Springs, per a team announcement. Nieuwenhuis, whom the Brewers designated for assignment Friday, cleared waivers, though he could have elected free agency. He’ll instead stay with the organization and earn a $257K salary in the minors.

Niewenhuis was a useful reserve for the Brewers last season, when the lefty-swinger hit .209/.324/.385 with 13 home runs and eight steals across 392 plate appearances. He also saw time at all three outfield spots and graded well in the field, registering one Defensive Runs Saved and a 5.4 UZR/150. Despite that output over a much larger sample size than this season’s, the Brewers booted the 29-year-old from their 40-man roster after he opened 2017 with a horrid .080/.233/.240 batting line in 30 PAs. Niewenhuis struck out in half of those plate trips – a vast increase over the high K rate (33.9 percent) he posted last year.

In the wake of Starling Marte’s suspension, the NL Central rival Pirates at least discussed swinging a trade for Nieuwenhuis, but they’ll instead look elsewhere for outfield help. The Brewers, meanwhile, have two outfield-capable reserves, Nick Franklin and Hernan Perez, on their 25-man roster behind starters Ryan Braun, Keon Broxton and Domingo Santana. Slugging first baseman Eric Thames is also an option, while Lewis Brinson, Brett Phillips and Ryan Cordell represent minor league outfielders on Milwaukee’s 40-man. However, a promotion for Brinson, one of the game’s top prospects, isn’t imminent, as Adam McCalvy of MLB.com wrote Saturday.

Pirates Looking For Outfielders

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The Pirates are looking for outfield help, GM Neal Huntington told reporters (including Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).  While Huntington likes the Bucs’ current outfield options, the team is still on the lookout for external players to help the fill the void left by the suspended Starling Marte.  “If we felt there was something better internally at this point in time, we’d make that move,” Huntington said.

In four games since Marte’s suspension was announced on Tuesday, the Bucs have used Andrew McCutchen in center field, Gregory Polanco in left and a variety of players (Adam Frazier, Jose Osuna and John Jaso) in right.  Frazier has been swinging a hot bat this season, though overall, the outfield mix isn’t tenable defensively.  (Using converted infielders like Josh Harrison also wouldn’t help matters.)  There isn’t much reinforcement available at the minor league level, as Huntington reiterated that top prospect Austin Meadows isn’t going to be promoted anytime soon.  As Brink notes, Meadows isn’t hitting well at Triple-A and the Bucs would likely prefer to delay Meadows’ debut for service time reasons anyway.

The rather makeshift nature of the Pirates’ outfield over the last week isn’t surprising considering that the organization was apparently almost as shocked as the rest of the baseball world by the news of Marte’s suspension.  “We had no idea, no knowledge that this was coming,” Huntington said, adding that Pirates only learned of the suspension the night before MLB announced the 80-game ban last Tuesday.

Given this surprise factor and the Pirates’ limited payroll capabilities, the team certainly won’t make a rash move to trade for a star outfielder, especially since Marte will be back by mid-July.  Looking at the list of available free agent outfielders, Alejandro De Aza and Sam Fuld are potential fits, as left-handed bats are more of a need for Pittsburgh and a player with center field capability is necessary given McCutchen’s declining glovework.

The designated-for-assignment market is perhaps the more interesting avenue of exploration, as Leonys Martin was just DFA’ed by the Mariners earlier today.  Martin’s $4.85MM salary is likely out of the Pirates’ comfort zone, though the M’s could cover some of that money or take on another contract in a trade.  The Pirates have considered recently-designated Brewers outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports (Twitter link).  Nieuwenhuis is also a left-handed hitter but doesn’t produce much at the plate, so Biertempfel thinks the Bucs will look elsewhere.

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