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Minor MLB Transactions: 5/9/16

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

  • The Cubs have purchased the contract of righty Alex Sanabia from the Mexican League Tijuana Toros, MLBTR’s Zach Links has learned. Sanabia will head to Triple-A Iowa to bolster the club’s rotation depth. The 27-year-old has seen action in parts of three MLB seasons with the Marlins, throwing 138 2/3 innings over 24 starts and four relief appearances and posting a sturdy 4.15 ERA with 5.6 K/9 against 2.9 BB/9. Sanabia had a rough go of things with the Angels’ top affiliate last year, but has given the Toros 30 innings of 3.60 ERA ball with 6.0 K/9 against a stingy 0.9 BB/9.
  • Left-hander Ryan O’Rourke has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A by the Twins, tweets Mike Berardino  of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The 28-year-old has appeared in 36 games for Minnesota over the past two seasons but struggled to a 5.83 ERA. While O’Rourke misses plenty of bats (8.9 K/9), he also has struggled with his control, as evidenced by the 20 walks he’s issued in 29 1/3 big league innings. Lefties, however, have been befuddled by him, batting just .149/.286/.234 in 58 plate appearances.
  • The Orioles announced today that right-hander Scott McGough has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Norfolk. Baltimore designated the 26-year-old, who was claimed off waivers from the Marlins earlier this year, for assignment last week. McGough made his big league debut in Miami last season but allowed seven runs in 6 2/3 innings. He’s been roughed up for a dozen runs in 8 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level this season but had an excellent 2015 campaign, posting a 1.93 ERA in 37 1/3 innings across three minor league level.
  • The Red Sox have signed former A’s first baseman Nate Freiman to a minor league deal and assigned him to Double-A Portland, according to an announcement from the independent Atlantic League. Freiman, 29, has been playing for the Atlantic League’s Long Island Ducks and hitting quite well through a small six-game sample (8-for-21, two homers, one double, two walks). Freiman showed good pop and handled left-handed pitching well for the 2013-14 A’s (.279/.326/.470 in 233 PAs), but his production evaporated at the Triple-A level last season when he hit just .220/.279/.321 in 305 PAs.
  • The Nationals acquired minor league catcher Martin Medina from the Blue Jays in exchange for cash considerations, per Baseball America’s Matt Eddy. The 26-year-old was originally drafted by the White Sox in the 20th round back in 2011, but Chicago flipped him to Toronto last summer (also for cash considerations). He’s a career .244/.314/.334 hitter in the minors and has caught 30 percent of opposing base-stealers, but he’s yet to progress beyond the Double-A level.
  • Also via Eddy, the Braves have released right-hander Rob Wooten from Triple-A Gwinnett. The long-time Brewers reliever signed a minors pact with Atlanta this winter and had a nice showing with Gwinnett, yielding just three runs on seven hits and no walks with seven strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings. The rest of Wooten’s career has come with the Brewers organization. He owns a 4.07 ERA with 8.3 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9 in 185 2/3 Triple-A innings and a 5.03 ERA with 7.0 K/9 against 2.9 BB/9 in 68 big league frames.
  • One more from Eddy, who adds that the Reds traded outfielder Pin-Chieh Chen to the Dodgers in exchange for cash considerations. The 24-year-old Chen, signed by the Cubs as a free agent out of Taiwan prior to the 2010 season, has climbed as high as Double-A in the minors, spending parts of four seasons at that level and compiling a .236/.344/.327 batting line there. Baseball America rated him as Chicago’s No. 31 prospect prior to the 2012 season but didn’t rise higher than that on their prospect rankings.

Twins Designate J.R. Graham, Ryan O’Rourke For Assignment

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1:29pm: The Twins announced that they have designated Graham and left-handed reliever Ryan O’Rourke for assignment. The club also announced that it has indeed selected the contracts of Mastroianni and Centeno, optioned Murphy to Triple-A Rochester and activated right-hander Ervin Santana off the disabled list.

O’Rourke, 28, made his MLB debut with the Twins last season and worked to a 6.14 ERA in 22 innings. He received another 7 1/3 innings this season and allowed four earned runs in that time. O’Rourke has picked up 29 strikeouts in his 29 1/3 big league innings, but he’s also issued 18 unintentional walks (20 total), hit a batter and thrown four wild pitches, demonstrating that his control leaves something to be desired. To his credit, lefties have mustered an abysmal .149/.286/.234 line against him in his brief time in the Majors, so perhaps a club in need of a left-handed specialist could harbor some interest.

12:59pm: The Twins will designate right-handed reliever J.R. Graham for assignment and select the contracts of outfielder Darin Mastroianni and catcher Juan Centeno, reports La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune (links to Twitter). The disappointing Twins appear poised for a significant slate of roster moves today, though the club has yet to formally announce the full litany of moves. Last night, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported that Tommy Milone and Casey Fien were to be placed on outright waivers.

The 26-year-old Graham was Minnesota’s selection in the 2014 Rule 5 Draft, and the Twins carried him on the roster for the entirety of the 2015 season in order to retain the rights to the former Braves top prospect in spite of a 4.95 ERA in 63 2/3 innings. Graham, though, has been shelled at the Triple-A level this season, surrendering 10 runs on 11 hits and seven walks with seven strikeouts in just 8 1/3 innings. He matched that 10.80 ERA in his brief promotion to the Majors, yielding a pair of runs on three hits and a walk with two strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings.

The addition of Mastroianni and Centeno comes with some noteworthiness as well. The pair will presumably fill two of the 40-man roster spots that were vacated by the placement of Milone and Fien on waivers. Perhaps more notable than the duo’s addition to the roster itself is the likely implications carried by their promotion; Centeno’s addition means that offseason trade acquisition John Ryan Murphy, who has begun the season in a dreadful 3-for-40 slide, will be optioned to the minors, writes Neal’s colleague Phil Miller.

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