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Minor MLB Transactions: 3/27/21

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The latest minor moves around the league:

Most Recent

  • The Diamondbacks have re-signed catcher Bryan Holaday to a new minor league contract, the team announced.  The 33-year-old catcher was in camp as a non-roster invitee and was released last night. Holaday has played for the Tigers, Marlins and Orioles over a big league career that has spanned parts of nine years. He got a little bit of MLB action in Baltimore last year, picking up 33 plate appearances.

Earlier Today

  • The Phillies announced they’ve released reliever Michael Ynoa. The 29-year-old pitched in six games this spring as a non-roster invitee. Ynoa hasn’t pitched in the majors since a 2016-17 stint with the White Sox. Once a top prospect, the right-hander has signed with each of the Royals, A’s and Phillies since being cut loose by Chicago but hasn’t made it back to the highest level. Ynoa has a 4.42 ERA/5.12 SIERA over 59 MLB innings.
  • The Rangers have released right-hander Nick Vincent, per a team announcement. Texas has interest in bringing Vincent back to the organization on another minor-league deal, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning-News (Twitter link). The Rangers also re-signed catcher Drew Butera to a second minor-league deal in a procedural move. Both Vincent and Butera were Article XX(B) free agents- players with six years of service time who were in camp on minor league deals after finishing the 2020 season on big league rosters. As such, they’d have been entitled to respective $100K retention bonuses had Texas kept them on their original contracts without adding them to the major league roster.

Rangers, Nick Vincent Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Rangers have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran reliever Nick Vincent, reports MLB.com’s Jon Morosi (Twitter link). The right-hander will be invited to Major League camp in Spring Training. He’s represented by PSI Sports Management.

In Vincent, Texas is adding a nine-year Major League veteran who has a durable, effective track record. The 34-year-old spent the 2020 season with the Marlins, pitching to a 4.43 ERA and 4.52 SIERA in 22 1/3 innings, although nearly all of the damage done against Vincent came in his final two outings. He carried a 2.18 ERA into the final week of the season before serving up a combined six runs in two appearances at Atlanta’s Truist Park and Yankee Stadium.

As a soft-tossing righty in his mid-30s, it’s not a huge surprise that Vincent had to settle for a non-guaranteed pact, but based on his track record and the current state of the Rangers’ bullpen, he ought to have a good chance at making the club. The right-hander hasn’t been on the IL with an elbow or shoulder issue since 2014 — he did miss time in 2019 due to a pectoral strain — and has long been a steady source of quality innings. From 2013-19, Vincent punched out just under a quarter of the hitters he faced while walking batters at just a six percent clip (4.5 percent, if you throw out the intentional free passes).

On the whole, the former 18th-round pick has logged 399 innings at the Major League level, and he has a strong 3.38 ERA that is backed up by a near-identical 3.40 SIERA. Vincent’s strikeout rate dipped to 18.5 percent last year, and his hard-contact rate spiked to career-worst levels. Still, his walk rate remained strong and his track record is one that’s plenty worth a low-risk flier of this nature.

Marlins Announce Numerous Roster Moves

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As they prepare to resume play, the Marlins have announced a flurry of additions to the active roster (as covered on Twitter by reporters including Jordan MacPherson of the Miami Herald). Just who’ll move to the COVID-19 injured list remains to be seen.

Most of these players were picked up in the last week or so as the organization’s coronavirus outbreak unfolded. The Fish will select the contracts of righties Nick Vincent and Josh A. Smith, infielders Logan Forsythe and Eddy Alvarez, and catcher Ryan Lavarnway.

Also coming up are a host of other fill-ins that had already gone onto the 40-man roster. Outfielders Matt Joyce and Lewis Brinson are coming off of the injured list. Righties Justin Shafer, James Hoyt, and Mike Morin will join lefties Josh D. Smith, Richard Bleier, and Brian Moran in the bullpen.

Most notably, perhaps, are the additions of youngsters Jordan Yamamoto, Monte Harrison, and Jorge Guzman. Yamamoto had 15 solid starts in 2019 and will be looking to lock down a job for the foreseeable future. As for Harrison, a former top-100 prospect, it’ll be his first taste of the bigs. Guzman is a live-armed young hurler who’ll get his first look.

In other news from Miami, both president Derek Jeter and manager Don Mattingly pushed back on the prevailing narrative surrounding the team’s coronavirus issues. While the leaders acknowledged that some players may have let their guard down, they rejected any rumors that players had recklessly engaged in risky activities away from the ballpark.

Jeter also rejected the notion that the Marlins’ players had made their own decision to take the field against the Phillies after several players tested positive. He says the organization simply played a scheduled game and noted that the league and opposing team had full knowledge of the testing results.

Marlins Release Ryan Cook

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The Marlins have released righty Ryan Cook, per a club announcement. He had been in camp on a minor-league deal.

Additionally, the team announced that fellow righty relievers Josh Smith and Nick Vincent have been reassigned to the club’s alternative training site. It appears that they’ll both remain with the organization but fall shy of making the Opening Day roster.

Cook hooked on with the Fish in January after pitching in Japan for the 2019 season. The 33-year-old is a six-year MLB veteran but has only made 28 total appearances since the start of the 2015 campaign.

Marlins Sign Nick Vincent, Add No. 3 Pick Max Meyer To 60-Man Pool

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The Marlins have signed veteran right-handed reliever Nick Vincent to a minor league contract and will add him to the team’s 60-player pool, president of baseball ops Michael Hill told reporters Monday (Twitter link via the Miami Herald’s Jordan McPherson). They’ll also add infielder/outfielder Sean Rodriguez once a minor league deal to re-sign him has been wrapped up. Perhaps of most interest to Fish fans, though, is that No. 3 overall pick Max Meyer will be added to the pool as well. That trio of moves will fill the Marlins’ initial pool.

Vincent, 33, had some uncharacteristic struggles with the Giants a year ago when he posted an ugly 5.58 ERA in 30 2/3 innings. A strained pectoral muscle may have been to blame, though, as Vincent was sharp for his first six weeks with San Francisco (2.25 ERA in his first 24 frames) before imploding over the next two weeks and eventually landing on the injured list. By the time he was healed up, the Giants opted to simply cut him loose. He caught on with the Phillies and yielded just three runs in 14 innings with a 17-to-4 K/BB ratio to close out the year.

From 2012-18, Vincent was quietly a very effective reliever. Over the life of 332 innings with the Padres and Mariners in that time, he compiled an impressive 3.17 ERA and 3.09 FIP with 9.0 K/9, 2.2 BB/9 and 0.78 HR/9. Soft-tossing, extreme fly-ball righties aren’t exactly en vogue these days — Vincent averages 89.7 mph on his fastball and has a career 33.9 percent grounder rate — but there’s no denying Vincent’s solid track record. And if he does make his way to the Miami ’pen, their spacious home park should help to keep those airborne balls in the yard.

The 35-year-old Rodriguez can play virtually anywhere on the diamond and has typically been a solid, albeit unspectacular bat against left-handed pitching. That makes him a nice potential bench bat for a club with an expanded roster in 2020, though. Rodriguez’s 2017-18 seasons were ruined by an offseason car accident in 2016 that ultimately led to shoulder surgery, but he turned things around to an extent last year. After batting .167/.277/.305 in the wake of that car crash, he logged a .233/.348/.375 line with Philadelphia in 2019.

Meyer, 21, is one of the best pitchers in the history of the University of Minnesota. The now-former Gopher ace was long expected to be a top 10 pick, but the Marlins still surprised some pundits by passing over fellow college arms like Asa Lacy and Emerson Hancock as well as Vanderbilt third baseman Austin Martin in order to scoop up Meyer third overall earlier this month. With a triple-digit fastball, a plus slider and a career 2.13 ERA and 187-to-41 K/BB ratio in 148 college innings, it’s easy to see why the Marlins were so enamored of Meyer though.

Many scouting reports on Meyer picked him to be among the fastest players to reach the Majors from this year’s draft — if not the fastest. The Athletic’s Keith Law even suggested that some clubs might be bullish enough to think that Meyer could pitch in the Majors as soon as this season, although that accelerated timeline would burn a year of control and service for the Marlins despite the fact that they’re not expected to contend. Anything can happen in a shorter season, though, so if the Fish do get out to a torrid start, perhaps they’ll be emboldened to bring Meyer up to the big leagues in an effort to bolster their staff.

Giants Release Tyson Ross, Nick Vincent

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The Giants have released former MLB hurlers Tyson Ross and Nick Vincent, KNBR’s Mark Sanchez reports on Twitter. Also cut loose was utilityman Jamie Westbrook.

Ross and Vincent are each 33-year-old righties who had inked minor-league deals in the offseason. The former is best known for his days in the Padres rotation. The latter, a reliever, was also once an effective hurler in San Diego as well as with the Mariners.

Though he struggled in limited big league action last year, and has never recovered from serious shoulder injuries, Ross has a lifetime 4.04 ERA in ten MLB campaigns. He didn’t have much hope of cracking the starting staff, but was perhaps a multi-inning relief candidate. Ross struggled in his three outings in camp before the pandemic paused the action.

As for Vincent, he struggled with the long ball during a stint with the Giants last year. But he turned in a strong 14-inning run to end the season — 1.93 ERA with 17:4 K/BB — with a Phillies team that was managed by new Giants skipper Gabe Kapler. Vincent had coughed up three homers and seven earned runs in four Spring Training frames.

Westbrook has yet to appear in the majors, having reached minor league free agency after seven seasons in the Diamondbacks system. He turned in 514 plate appearances of .281/.358/.451 hitting in the upper minors last year, but obviously didn’t show enough in camp for the Giants to keep him in their 60-man player pool.

Giants To Sign Nick Vincent

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The Giants have agreed to terms with veteran reliever Nick Vincent, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com (via Twitter). It’s a minors deal with a spring invite.

Vincent opened the 2019 season in San Francisco but struggled before being cut loose. He ended up turning in 14 good innings down the stretch with the Phillies, though, running up a 17:4 K/BB ratio and allowing just three earned runs.

Now an eight-year MLB veteran, the 33-year-old has compiled quite an impressive track record. Through 376 2/3 career innings, the soft-tossing Vincent carries a 3.32 ERA. While teams haven’t been willing to stake much on a continuation of that performance level, he’s certainly a nice player to have on hand for this level of commitment.

Phillies Announce Roster Moves

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5:26PM: In other roster moves, the Phillies activated Jay Bruce from the 10-day injured list and called up left-hander Cole Irvin from Triple-A.  The club also selected the contracts of infielder Phil Gosselin, righty Nick Vincent, and catcher Deivy Grullon from Triple-A.  This will mark the 23-year-old Grullon’s first taste of MLB action, after a seven-year stint in Philadelphia’s minor league system that includes an impressive .283/.354/.496 slash line over 457 Triple-A plate appearances this season.

3:38PM: The Phillies have designated right-handed pitcher Drew Anderson for assignment, according to an official team announcement. He’ll be dropped from the team’s 40-man roster, along with Adam Morgan and Jerad Eickhoff, who were transferred to the 60-day injured list.

The 25-year-old Anderson has only managed to get into two games for the Phillies this year, tossing six innings in his third big-league season. It hasn’t been a promising showing for Anderson, who surrendered five runs in those six innings, walking as many batters as he struck out. Unfortunately, those numbers represented a continuation of his struggles in his first two trials in Philadelphia. For his career, Anderson is sporting an unsightly 7.71 ERA over 21 innings of work.

What’s more, the minor-league numbers for Anderson haven’t been much more encouraging. While he’s excelled at Double-A, it seems that Triple-A has represented a significant barrier; across three seasons at the level, Anderson owns a 4.34 ERA while striking out only 7.4 batters per nine innings. If he clears waivers, he could accept an outright assignment and remain within the Philly organization — if he isn’t released. Otherwise, another team could take a chance on him and hope to turn him into a viable reliever.

Phillies To Sign Nick Vincent

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10:00pm: There is indeed a deal in place, per MLB.com’s Jon Morosi (via Twitter).

9:50pm: The Phillies are “working toward” a deal with righty Nick Vincent, per Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadephia (Twitter link). If completed, it’ll be a minors pact.

Vincent is one of several veteran players who have entered the open market in recent weeks. With no possibility of striking trades for players on MLB contracts, contenders are stockpiling all the depth they can.

Things were going well enough for Vincent to open the year, after he earned an Opening Day roster spot with the Giants. Working in a multi-inning capacity, he made it through 24 innings over 14 appearances with a 2.25 ERA. Then came a brutal, four-appearance stretch in which he coughed up 13 earned runs.

That stretch ended when Vincent went on the injured list with a pectoral injury. He has been sidelined ever since. The Giants elected to set him loose rather than adding him back to the active roster after watching Vincent’s rehab work. He did rack up a dozen strikeouts without a walk over seven appearances.

For the most part, Vincent has been much the same reliever as always in 2019. He carries an 11.3% swinging-strike rate with 8.8 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9, numbers that sit right at his career average. With a long track record of strong work — he owns a lifetime 3.38 ERA in 362 2/3 MLB frames — Vincent was sure to secure an opportunity somewhere. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him back in the majors in relatively short order.

Giants Designate Nick Vincent For Assignment

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The Giants have designated right-hander Nick Vincent for assignment, as per multiple reports (including Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group).  Vincent was activated from the 60-day injured list before being DFA’ed.

Vincent had struggled to a 5.58 ERA over 30 2/3 innings before hitting the IL on May 29 with a pectoral strain.  Much of the damage came in Vincent’s last four outings before his IL stint, as 13 of his 19 total earned runs on the season came over his last 6 2/3 frames of work.  Still, despite some solid peripherals like an 8.8 K.9 and a 3.75 K/BB rate, Vincent was susceptible to the long ball, allowing seven homers over his 30 2/3 IP.

The 33-year-old Vincent joined San Francisco on a minors deal over the winter.  This season’s results have been a damper on an otherwise quietly solid career for Vincent, as he amassed a 3.17 ERA over 332 innings for the Padres and Mariners from 2012-18.  With this track record, he is likely to get some attention from one of the many teams looking for relief help at this time of year.

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