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Patrick Wisdom

Mariners Release Patrick Wisdom

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The Mariners have granted infielder Patrick Wisdom his unconditional release, Greg Johns of MLB.com relays. The club previously designated Wisdom for assignment on Aug. 10.

Wisdom joined the Mariners as a minor league signing last November, but he never took an at-bat with the club before it axed him. He’s best known as a former first-round pick of the Cardinals in 2012, when Wisdom went 52nd overall.

Wisdom had his moments in the St. Louis organization, especially during a 2018 major league debut in which he slashed .260/.362/.520 with four home runs in 58 plate appearances, but the Cardinals traded him to the Rangers prior to the ’19 campaign. Wisdom struggled to a .154/.185/.192 line with 15 strikeouts in 26 PA as a Ranger.

While his time in the majors has certainly been inconsistent, Wisdom will bring a track record of decent minors production to the next organization that signs him (if one does). He posted an .844 OPS in Triple-A ball last year and owns a .252/.328/.478 line with 82 homers in 1,674 trips to the plate at the highest level of the minors.

Mariners Claim Brady Lail, Designate Patrick Wisdom

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The Mariners announced Monday that they’ve claimed right-hander Brady Lail off waivers from the White Sox and designated infielder Patrick Wisdom for assignment.

Lail, 27, made his big league debut with the Yankees in 2019 but pitched just 2 2/3 innings in his lone appearance with the club. It was a similar tale with the ChiSox, who got Lail into one game for 1 1/3 innings of work prior to designating the right-hander for assignment. He’s struggled in the upper minors as a starter, but he moved to the bullpen full-time a couple years back and has since enjoyed much better results. In 49 1/3 frames between Double-A and Triple-A in 2019, Lail pitched to a 3.83 ERA with 12.2 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9.

Wisdom, 28, hasn’t appeared in the Majors with Seattle since signing with them over the winter. He’s a career .224/.306/.408 hitter in 86 MLB plate appearances and a .252/.328/.478 hitter in parts of four Triple-A seasons. Wisdom struggled quite a bit in his first run through Triple-A, but he’s slugged 77 homers in three seasons since that time while oscillating between the Majors and Minors. He has experience at all four corner positions.

Mariners Option 4 Players To Triple-A

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The Mariners have reduced their spring training roster to 45 players. The team announced Friday that it optioned two infielders (Patrick Wisdom and Donovan Walton) and a pair of right-handers (Zac Grotz and Taylor Williams) to Triple-A Tacoma.

Every member of the quartet has garnered some major league experience, but Wisdom may be the most notable name in the group. He’s a former high selection of the Cardinals, who took him 52nd overall in the 2012 draft. But Wisdom, now 28 years old, has only totaled 86 major league plate appearances to this point. He spent almost all of last season as a member of the Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate, with which he batted .240/.332/.513 (97 wRC+) and hit 31 home runs in 453 plate appearances. Wisdom then joined the Mariners on a minor league contract back in November.

Walton, 25, ranks as the Mariners’ No. 24 prospect at MLB.com. He did appear in seven games with Seattle last season, but he hasn’t even played at the Triple-A level yet. Walton was quite effective in Double-A ball last season, though, as he slashed .300/.390/.427 (134 wRC+) with 11 homers, 10 steals and almost as many walks (63) as strikeouts (72).

As for the optioned pitchers, the 28-year-old Williams became a Mariner in February by way of a waiver claim from the Brewers. He racked up 53 innings out of the Brewers’ bullpen in 2018, parlaying a 95 mph fastball into a respectable 4.25 ERA/3.95 FIP with 9.68 K/9 and 4.25 BB/9. But Williams spent the majority of last season at the highest level of the minors, thanks in no small part to the near-10.00 ERA he posted over 14 2/3 innings in Milwaukee.

Grotz, a former Astros, Dodgers and Mets farmhand, is in his second year in the Seattle organization. He amassed a combined 77 2/3 innings among the Double-A, Triple-A and major league levels last season. In his first 17 1/3 frames in the bigs, Grotz notched 18 strikeouts and allowed eight earned runs on 14 hits and eight walks.

Mariners Sign Patrick Wisdom To Major League Deal

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The Mariners announced that they’ve signed infielder/outfielder Patrick Wisdom to a Major League contract. Seattle’s 40-man roster is ow up to 39 players.

Wisdom, 28, has minimal MLB experience, having appeared in 32 games for the Cardinals in 2018 and nine games for the Rangers in 2019. He’s a career .224/.306/.408 hitter in 86 MLB trips to the plate, but the former No. 52 overall draft pick (Cardinals, 2012) has a solid track record in Triple-A. Wisdom has played in parts of four Triple-A campaigns and posted a .252/.328/.478 batting line with 82 home runs in 1674 plate appearances.

Most of Wisdom’s career has been spent as a corner infielder, but he also appeared at all three outfield positions with the Rangers’ Triple-A club last season. He also has minor league options remaining, so the move to get him on the 40-man roster is likely more about adding some versatile depth with power upside — he hit 31 home runs in 107 Triple-A games in 2019 — than it is about penciling him in as a lock for the 2020 roster.

Minor MLB Transactions: 7/10/19

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We’ll track Wednesday’s minor moves throughout baseball here…

  • The Rangers announced that corner infielder Patrick Wisdom has cleared outright waivers and been assigned to Triple-A Nashville. The 27-year-old went 4-for-26 with a double in a brief nine-game stint with Texas and has scuffled to a .199/.310/.389 slash in 259 plate appearances with Nashville this season. However, Wisdom mashed at a .288/.363/.480 clip in 421 PAs with the Cardinals’ top affiliate last season. The former supplemental-round pick has a generally solid track record in Triple-A and will stick around with the Texas org as a depth option in the event of further injuries at the MLB level.

Earlier Moves

  • The Tigers announced that right-hander Austin D. Adams cleared waivers and was sent outright to Triple-A Toledo. Not to be confused with the Mariners reliever of the same first and last name (Austin L. Adams) the 32-year-old Adams returned to the big leagues in 2019 for the first time since 2016 but hasn’t experienced much in the way of success. In 16 2/3 innings between the Twins and Tigers, Adams has a 7.02 ERA with 14 strikeouts, 13 walks and four homers allowed. He logged an impressive 28-to-6 K/BB ratio in 18 innings with Minnesota’s Triple-A club earlier this year and has a lifetime 3.64 ERA and 10.1 K/9 at that level. Adams has previously been outrighted, so he’ll have the option of rejecting the assignment in favor of free agency, although a threadbare Tigers ’pen that looks likely to lose Shane Greene via trade in the next three weeks could present Adams a viable path back to the Majors later in the year.

Rangers Select Pedro Payano, Option Locke St. John

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The Rangers have selected the contract of right-hander Pedro Payano. Lefty Locke St. John has been optioned to Triple-A. Patrick Wisdom was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for Payano.

New York native Payano will make his major league debut for the Rangers. He has primarily been a starter in the minors, 121 starts versus 27 appearances out of the pen, relying on deception and pitch diversity to make his living. In 15 appearances between Double-A and Triple-A this season, Payano, 24, went 5-3 with a 3.91 ERA, especially turning it on with the Triple-A Nashville Sounds (2-2 3.08 ERA). Payano isn’t a major innings eater, though he certainly could fill the role of a long man, if not taking a turn or two in the rotation.

St. John appeared in five games for the Rangers since June 25, largely holding his own until the Twins blew him up last night for three runs on four hits in an inning of work. In four appearances previous, St. John, 26, had surrendered just one run on two hits across 4 1/3 innings.

As for Wisdom, he’ll hit the waiver market after a disappointing tenure in Texas. The former first round pick of the Cardinals started the season playing more-or-less everyday between the infield corners in Texas, but a .154/.185/.192 line across those 9 games in April was all the Rangers needed to see. Back in Triple-A, Wisdom fared better, but not by much, hitting .199/.310/.399 across 259 plate appearances.

Ronald Guzman Placed On IL With Hamstring Strain

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After suffering a right hamstring strain, the Rangers have placed first baseman Ronald Guzman on the 10-day injured list, per a team announcement. To fill his roster spot, the team has recalled infielder Patrick Wisdom from Triple-A.

The 24-year-old Guzman has started off the season hitting just .231, though he has shown more reason for optimism with 4 doubles and 2 home runs through nine games, good for a .615 slugging percentage. The Rangers are hoping for the big first baseman to improve on his 2018 rookie season, in which he posted a .235/.306/.416 slash line that, while respectable, is rather pedestrian for a corner infielder. A power surge from Guzman would be a welcome development for the Rangers, who will also miss Guzman’s defense at first base. It appears that veteran Logan Forsythe will take over as the primary first baseman in Guzman’s absence, with Wisdom assuming a utility infield role off the bench.

Wisdom, 27, was an offseason acquisition from the Cardinals, where he had previously spent his entire career after St. Louis used a first-round pick on Wisdom in the 2012 amateur draft. He made his Major League debut in 2018, playing in 32 games and posting an impressive .260/.362/.520 batting line. Wisdom, who has played third base and first base in the big leagues, boasts an impressive minor-league track record, including the 2017 season, in which he hit 31 home runs in 127 games—albeit in the notoriously hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. Expect to see Wisdom earn himself a spot start here and there while the Rangers await the return of their everyday first baseman.

AL West Notes: Lorena Martin, Harvey, Kikuchi, Mariners, Rangers

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Lorena Martin filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the Seattle Mariners earlier this week, per Drew Perine of the News Tribune. Martin has been vocal in alleging a pattern of racial and gender discrimination from high ranking officials within the Mariners organization, who have unequivocally, and unsurprisingly, denied Martin’s accusations. Major League Baseball is said to be investigating the matter, but now the King County Superior Court will have the opportunity to make their own determination. Until these respective investigations are complete, let’s take a look at the baseball news from around the AL West…

  • The Angels’ recent signing of Matt Harvey makes sense both in terms of team need and length of the deal, even if it took $11MM guaranteed to ink a pitcher whose 4.94 ERA from a year ago was seen as a pleasant surprise. Combined with the subsequent one-year, $9MM deal given to Trevor Cahill, the Angels have done well to add rotation arms without committing dollars beyond 2019. In terms of upside, GM Billy Eppler is hopeful Harvey can return to 2015 form when the dark knight posted a 2.71 ERA (3.05 FIP) in 189 1/3 innings for the Mets, though there is no single factor (conditioning or otherwise) prompting Eppler’s optimism, per Maria Torres of the LA Times (via Twitter). Whether he rediscovers his 2015 self or refines the 2018 version, Harvey has definite upside that should help Eppler in his stated goal to increase the team’s win expectancy. Ben Lindbergh and Jeff Sullivan speculated in a recent Fangraphs podcast about whether the decreased spin rate on Harvey’s curveball could be tied to the hand numbness he suffered as a symptom of thoracic outlet syndrome, which ended his 2016 season. Lindbergh and Sullivan are purely speculating, but it’s an interesting theory.
  • Jerry Dipoto dropped some not-so-subtle hints that the Mariners have interest in Japanese lefty Yusei Kikuchi while on MLB Network Radio. That’s hardly a surprise, given Seattle’s long-term relationship with Japanese players. Still, Dipoto also interestingly noted “two years” as the timetable for the Mariners competing again in the West. That they are rebuilding certainly hasn’t escaped anyone, but knowing the timeframe in which Dipoto’s current strategy plans to produce fruit is worthwhile knowledge in interpreting Seattle’s transactions this offseason and beyond. How aggressively Dipoto sticks to this unofficial two-year timeline could speak to the level of symbiosis that exists between Dipoto and ownership. 
  • Texas GM Jon Daniels, meanwhile, does not want to put a timeframe on the Rangers’ rebuild. With Adrian Beltre retired and Jurickson Profar now in Oakland, the Rangers have turned the page on the most recent era of Rangers’ baseball, but the trade itself does not necessarily signal a longer rebuild, especially given the advanced development level of the prospects returned. While there was no urgency to deal Profar, a stalemate in extension talks with his agent Scott Boras appears to have been a (not at all surprising) contributing factor in Daniels’ willingness to move their former top prospect, writes Jeff Wilson of the Star-Telegram. With third base now vacated (again), Daniels made a point to snuff out any musings about Joey Gallo returning to the hot corner, as they will likely look outside the organization or give Patrick Wisdom, 27, an extended look. Eli White, one of the prospects acquired in the deal, has an outside shot of pushing his way to the majors next season, though he profiles more as an up-the-middle player.

Rangers Acquire Patrick Wisdom From Cardinals For Drew Robinson, Add Brandon McCarthy To Front Office

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The Rangers have acquired third baseman Patrick Wisdom from the Cardinals for infielder/outfielder Drew Robinson, according to an announcement from Texas. Additionally, the Rangers have hired former major league right-hander Brandon McCarthy as special assistant to general manager Jon Daniels.

Wisdom, 27, was a first-round pick of the Cardinals in 2012, though he didn’t reach the majors until last season. He impressed over a small sample of work, hitting .260/.362/.520 with four home runs in 58 plate appearances. In Texas, the former well-regarded prospect may have an opportunity to receive quite a bit of work at third base, as the club lost Adrian Beltre to retirement and may trade Jurickson Profar this offseason. Playing time would have continued to be hard for Wisdom to come by in St. Louis, which boasts Matt Carpenter as its starting third baseman and has quality depth in the form of Jedd Gyorko (if he’s not dealt), Yairo Munoz and now Robinson.

The 26-year-old Robinson will give the Cardinals the lefty-hitting utility player they’d been seeking, having garnered big league experience at second, third, shortstop and all three outfield positions. Robinson hasn’t hit much, however, with a .204/.301/.366 slash and nine HRs in 246 trips to the plate. He did rake at the Triple-A level last season, though.

As for McCarthy, he’s shifting to a front office position immediately after the end of his playing career and returning to the Rangers, with whom he pitched from 2007-09. The 35-year-old spent the final season of his career with the Braves, his seventh team in a big league tenure that was productive but marred by injuries. McCarthy was someone who embraced analytics throughout his pitching career, helping make him a logical choice for a front office role in his post-playing days.

Cardinals Select Patrick Wisdom’s Contract

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The Cardinals announced that they’ve selected third baseman Patrick Wisdom’s contract from Triple-A Memphis. He’ll take the place of infielder Yairo Munoz on the Cardinals’ 25-man roster. Munoz landed on the 10-day disabled list with a right wrist sprain. To make room for Wisdom on its 40-man roster, St. Louis transferred reliever Luke Gregerson to the 60-day DL.

The 26-year-old Wisdom, whom the Cardinals chose in the first round (No. 52) of the 2012 draft, is finally in position to make his major league debut. Wisdom had been among the Redbirds’ top prospects in the few seasons after they drafted him, but his production and stock fell as he climbed the minor league ranks. To Wisdom’s credit, though, he mashed 31 home runs at Triple-A last season and returned this year to hit a solid .289/.363/.479 (119 wRC+) with 14 HRs in 405 trips to the plate en route to his first MLB promotion.

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