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Nick Buss

Minor MLB Transactions: 6/22/18

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Here are Friday’s minor moves from around the game…

  • The Twins’ Triple-A affiliate announced that outfielder Nick Buss has been released. The 31-year-old Buss won a Pacific Coast League batting title in 2017 when he hit .348/.395/.541 with 11 homers for the Padres’ top affiliate, but he’s struggled to a .239/.309/.340 slash through 178 PAs in Rochester this season. Buss has appeared in the Majors with both Los Angeles teams, hitting a combined .180/.229/.300 in a tiny sample of 110 plate appearances and is a lifetime .302/.360/.452 hitter in parts of six seasons at the Triple-A level.
  • The Royals’ Double-A affiliate announced yesterday that they’ve traded minor league outfielder Brandon Downes to the Braves. A return wasn’t specified, though presumably there’ll be cash or a player to be named later going back to the Kansas City organization to complete the deal. The 25-year-old Downes was Kansas City’s seventh-round pick in 2014 but entered the 2018 season with just five games played above Class-A Advanced. He’s hitting .198/.284/.365 in 111 PAs between Class-A Advanced and Double-A this season (including a 1-for-4 debut yesterday for Atlanta’s Double-A affiliate. Baseball America rated him as Kansas City’s No. 24 prospect four years ago, praising his solid-average speed and above-average power potential, though Downes has yet to deliver on that upside.

Minor MLB Transactions: 1/3/18

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We’ll use this post to track the day’s minor moves:

  • Nate Rowan, the PR director for the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate in Rochester, announced today that Minnesota has agreed to a minor league deal with outfielder Nick Buss (Twitter link). Buss, 31, has made cameos with the Dodgers and Angels over the past four years, totaling a .180/.229/.300 slash in a tiny sample of 110 plate appearances. However, he mashed at a .348/.395/.541 clip in Triple-A this past season and is a lifetime .307/.364/.461 hitter in parts of five seasons at that level. He can play all three outfield spots and picked up a handful of games at first base in 2017 as well.
  • Right-hander Dylan Floro has agreed to a minor league deal with the Reds, per SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (Twitter link). Floro was twice designated for assignment by the Cubs in 2017 and claimed off waivers by the Dodgers following that second DFA. However, the Dodgers designated him for assignment themselves just a few weeks later upon acquiring Curtis Granderson. Floro became a minor league free agent at season’s end and will bring to Cincinnati a career 5.11 ERA with a 20-to-7 K/BB ratio in 24 1/3 MLB innings. In 242 2/3 innings of work in Triple-A, Floro has a 4.38 ERA with 5.9 K/9 against 1.5 BB/9. A ground-ball specialist, Floro has regularly posted ground-ball percentages in the upper 50s and low 60s throughout his minor league tenure and has a career 52.8 percent mark in his brief MLB tenure.

Earlier Moves

  • The Nationals have added a pair of hurlers on minor-league deals, according to Cotillo (also via Twitter). Righty Roman Mendez and lefty Logan Darnell will both join the D.C. organization, though it’s unclear at this point whether either will receive an invitation to MLB camp. Both have seen some MLB action, though neither has an extensive track record and the pair hasn’t touched the bigs for a few seasons. Mendez spent some time with Japan’s Hanshin Tigers in 2017, but only threw 9 2/3 innings. In 2016, he worked to a 3.38 ERA in 64 Triple-A frames. As for Darnell, who’ll soon turn 29, he spent the ’17 campaign outside the Twins organization for the first time. The long-time minor-league starter appeared with the Rays’ Double-A affiliate, the indy ball Somerset Patriots, and in the Venezuean winter league, allowing between 3.81 and 3.98 earned runs per nine at each of those stops. In 359 1/3 lifetime innings at Triple-A, Darnell owns a 3.51 ERA with 6.3 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9.

Minor MLB Transactions: 1/24/17

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Here are the day’s notable minor moves, all courtesy of Baseball America’s Matt Eddy unless otherwise noted:

  • The Angels announced today that right-hander Blake Parker has cleared waivers and been outrighted off the team’s 40-man roster. Parker had been designated for assignment on Jan. 19 when the Halos claimed Juan Graterol off waivers. (Graterol has since already been lost on waivers to the Blue Jays.) Like Graterol, Parker has bounced around the league quite a bit this winter, moving from the Yankees, to the Angels, to the Brewers and back to the Angels. After losing his 40-man spot on four different occasions, Parker has cleared waivers. He’ll have the option to elect free agency but would also presumably be invited to big league camp with the Angels this spring. Last season, Parker tossed 17 1/3 innings with the Mariners and Yankees, logging a 4.67 ERA with a 15-to-9 K/BB ratio. The former Cubs righty has spent parts of four seasons in the Majors and owns a 3.87 ERA in 90 2/3 innings.
  • The Orioles announced a list of non-roster invitations today, and while they’ve mostly been previously reported and noted here on MLBTR, their minor league pact with infielder/outfielder Alex Castellanos was a new announcement. Castellanos, 30, saw brief bits of action with the Dodgers in 2012-13 but hasn’t appeared in the Major since. While he’s struggled to a .171/.186/.390 batting line in his 43 big league PAs, Castellanos owns a career .292/.373/.517 line in parts of five Triple-A seasons. He has more than 2700 pro innings in right field plus another 1661 innings as a third baseman. He’s also logged 900+ innings at second base, 500+ innings in center and left as well as 155 innings at first base.

Earlier Updates

  • Former big league righty Barry Enright is heading back to a MLB organization, taking a minors deal with the Padres, as Chris Jackson of MiLB.com reported on Twitter. Enright had been pitching for the Mexican League’s Tijuana Toros (and also spent time with the Hermosillo organization in 2015). He joined MLBTR’s podcast at the outset of that stint, and went on to turn in two productive seasons as a starter in Mexico. In 2016, Enright pitched to a 3.19 ERA with 5.2 K/9 and 1.1 BB/9 over 127 frames. Also signing on with San Diego, per Jackson, is outfielder Nick Buss. The 30-year-old appeared in 36 MLB games last year for the Angels, but hit just .198/.247/.346. He did have a productive year at Triple-A, however, slashing .290/.345/.462 in his 372 plate appearances.
  • Right-hander Yohan Pino, who pitched most recently in Korea, will join the Twins on a minors deal. Pino, 33, didn’t perform well for the KT Wiz, coughing up 31 earned runs on 62 hits over his 39 innings. He has had greater success stateside, however. Pino spent time in the majors in 2014 and 2015 with the Twins and Royals, posting a 4.63 ERA with 7.1 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 in his 79 2/3 innings.
  • The Diamondbacks have agreed to re-sign third baseman Carlos Rivero to a minor-league deal. Rivero, 28, spent all of 2016 at Arizona’s top affiliate, hitting .277/.316/.484 with 19 home runs over 446 plate appearances. Rivero represents a depth option at the hot corner. He has appeared in just four MLB games in his career; those came in 2014 with the Red Sox.
  • Joining the Braves on a minors pact is outfielder Xavier Avery. The 27-year-old played with the Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate in 2016, slashing .248/.332/.363 over 347 plate appearances. He briefly cracked the majors back in 2012 with Baltimore, but hasn’t made his way back since.

Minor MLB Transactions: 10/15/16

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The latest minor moves from around baseball:

  • The Orioles have outrighted infielder Paul Janish, who has elected free agency, per a club announcement. Baltimore designated the 34-year-old defensive specialist for assignment last week after he logged 35 plate appearances with the club this season. Most of Janish’s time this year was spent at Triple-A Norfolk, where he hit .248/.333/.280 in 283 trips to the plate. In his 1,277-PA big league career, Janish – previously with the Reds and Braves – has batted .216/.284/.289.
  • Like Janish, Angels right-hander A.J. Achter and outfielder Nick Buss have also elected free agency in lieu of outright assignments. The Angels designated the pair for assignment on Oct. 5. Achter pitched to a terrific 3.11 ERA in 37 2/3 innings with the Angels this year, but he did so despite striking out just 14 batters and surrendering 43 hits. The 28-year-old, also a former Twin, has 62 big league frames on his resume with a 4.79 K/9, 3.05 BB/9 and 3.92 ERA. In his most extensive major league action since the Dodgers selected him in the eighth round of the 2008 draft, Buss collected 90 PAs with the Angels this season and hit a meager .198/.247/.346. The soon-to-be 30-year-old has slashed a solid .298/.358/.444 in 1,820 Triple-A plate appearances.
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