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Stuart Fairchild

Reds Claim Stuart Fairchild Off Waivers From Giants

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The Reds have claimed outfielder Stuart Fairchild off waivers from the Giants and optioned him to Triple-A, per the team. To open a spot on the 40-man roster, right-hander James Marinan was designated for assignment.

This will be Fairchild’s second turn with Reds. He was previously traded from Cincinnati to the Diamondbacks are part of the Archie Bradley trade. The versatile outfielder wasn’t been able to get much playing time in the Majors with the Diamondbacks, however, nor with the Mariners or Giants, his next two stops. In Triple-A this season, Fairchild has slashed .232/.376/.449 over 85 plate appearances.

Marinan, 23, has yet to pitch higher than High-A. The right-hander has struggled this season in particular, racking up a 7.71 ERA over 32 2/3 innings with High-A Daytona. Given the numbers, he’s unlikely to be claimed, though the other 29 teams will have their chance to add him to their 40-man rosters, should they so choose.

Giants Designate Stuart Fairchild For Assignment, Option Sean Hjelle, Reinstate Austin Slater

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The Giants have made a number of roster moves today, optioning Sean Hjelle to Triple-A, reinstating Austin Slater from the injured list, and designating Stuart Fairchild for assignment, per John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter). In addition, Sam Delaplane was added to the 40-man roster and assigned to Class A San Jose. Delaplane is rehabbing from Tommy John surgery.

Slater is the biggest name here in terms of experience. The 29-year-old outfielder was off to a solid start to the season through 34 games before being placed on the injured list. Slater returns to the active roster boasting a .250/.388/.391 triple-slash line through 80 plate appearances. The on-base percentage jumps off the page, buoyed by a solid 18.8 percent walk rate against a 26.3 percent strikeout rate. With just a 10.5 percent walk rate for his career, Slater showed improved discipline thus far, though in a small sample.

The towering 6’11” Hjelle logged four innings while giving up two earned runs in his first bit of Major League action. The former 2nd round pick has served exclusively as a starter in Triple-A, making nine starts with a 5.49 ERA over 41 innings. Baseball America rates Hjelle as the Giants’ 20th-ranked prospect.

Fairchild has already seen time this season with the Mariners and Giants after being drafted by the Reds and making his Major League debut with the Diamondbacks. Fairchild can play all three outfield spots. The 26-year-old outfielder will now be available to the other 29 teams through waivers.

Giants, Mariners Trade Alex Blandino For Stuart Fairchild

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The Giants and Mariners have agreed to a trade that will send infielder Alex Blandino and cash considerations to the M’s, according to Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times (Twitter link).  San Francisco will acquire outfielder Stuart Fairchild, who was designated for assignment yesterday.

Fairchild is joining his third different organization in less than a month, as the Mariners obtained him from the Diamondbacks back on April 23.  A Seattle native, Fairchild’s brief tenure with his hometown team did see him play in three games and receive three plate appearances as a late-game sub.  This makes it 15 MLB appearances for Fairchild over the last two seasons, after he made his big league debut with the D’Backs in 2021.

The Reds took Fairchild in the second round in the 2017 draft, and has posted some good numbers in the minors, including a .282/.382/.536 slash line over 246 PA at the Triple-A level.  As a right-handed hitting outfielder who can play all three outfield spots, Fairchild represents an interesting depth option for the Giants, who are forever looking for more pieces to mix and match.  Since the Giants’ first-choice outfield group of Mike Yastrzemski, LaMonte Wade Jr., Joc Pederson, and Luis Gonzalez are all left-handed hitters, Fairchild joins Austin Slater and Darin Ruf as the top complements from the right side.

It could be argued that Seattle had a similar need for outfield depth with Mitch Haniger on the injured list and Jarred Kelenic optioned to Triple-A, but the M’s clearly felt Fairchild was an expendable part.  Instead, the Mariners will now add to their infield depth chart with Blandino, a veteran of 135 games with the Reds over parts of the last three seasons.  Blandino was another high draft pick for Cincinnati, selected with the 29th overall pick of the 2014 draft.

Blandino has hit only .226/.339/.291 over his 279 PA in the majors, but brings plenty of versatility.  The 29-year-old has lined up at all four infield positions, and played a handful of games as a corner outfielder at the MLB level (plus five mop-up appearances as a pitcher).  Abraham Toro and Dylan Moore are currently acting in similar super-utility capacities on the Mariners’ active roster, so Blandino provides some extra cover in the event of an injury.

Blandino was born in Palo Alto, California and played college ball at Stanford, so the trade represents a rather unusual case of two teams swapping local products.  Then again, the frequency of trades between the Giants and Mariners is an oddity unto itself — this is the fourth deal between the two clubs in less than a month.

Mariners Option Jarred Kelenic, Claim Adrian Sampson

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The Mariners announced this afternoon they’ve claimed right-hander Adrian Sampson off waivers from the Cubs. They’ve also selected outfielder Steven Souza Jr. to the big leagues in place of Jarred Kelenic, who was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma. Seattle also reinstated Sergio Romo from the 10-day injured list, optioned Danny Young and designated Stuart Fairchild and Yohan Ramirez for assignment to clear 40-man roster space for Sampson and Souza.

Kelenic’s demotion is the most notable of Seattle’s spate of moves. A former sixth overall pick and top prospect, Kelenic has yet to produce against big league pitching. He struggled to a .181/.265/.350 line over his first 377 MLB plate appearances last season, striking out in 28.1% of his trips while hitting only .216 on balls in play. The M’s surely hoped to see more from the left-handed hitting outfielder in the early going this season, but that hasn’t yet been the case.

Through 30 games, Kelenic owns just a .140/.219/.291 mark. The youngster has gone down on strikes 36 times while making contact on only 67.8% of his swings. That’s the 12th-lowest contact rate among 192 batters with at least 90 plate appearances, and the M’s have decided it’s time for a reset against Triple-A arms. It’s the second time in as many years that Kelenic has been optioned after scuffling against MLB pitching, but he responded well during a month-long stint in the minors last summer.

The timing of Kelenic’s latest option comes rather ironically as the M’s are headed to Queens for a weekend series with the Mets. New York, of course, originally drafted him and included him in the controversial Robinson Canó/Edwin Díaz swap. That looked to be a coup for Seattle given Kelenic’s prospect pedigree, but he’ll obviously need to perform better whenever the M’s bring him back to the big leagues. There’s plenty of time to do so, as he won’t turn 23 years old until July. Because of the canceled minor league season in 2020, the Wisconsin native has still only played 51 games between Double-A and Triple-A.

Barring an exceptionally lengthy stint, the demotion doesn’t seem likely to affect his path to free agency after the 2027 season. Kelenic entered the year with 105 days of big league service; players are credited with a full service year for spending 172 days on an MLB roster or injured list. He’s accrued approximately 36 more days this year, meaning he needs to be in the majors for around a month more to surpass the one-year threshold in 2022. How long this stay in Tacoma lasts will no doubt be determined in large part by Kelenic’s performance there, but it’s hard to imagine the M’s keeping him down until September barring some major struggles against Triple-A pitching.

In the meantime, Seattle will turn to the veteran Souza with Julio Rodríguez, Jesse Winker and Dylan Moore as outfield options. The 33-year-old has gotten sporadic MLB time with the Cubs and Dodgers over the past couple years, but he hasn’t played a full season in the majors since 2017. Signed to a minor league deal in Spring Training, Souza has gotten off to an excellent start with the Rainiers. He’s hitting .267/.417/.533 with five homers and a massive 19.8% walk rate in 22 games. The 14-18 M’s will see if he can carry over that production against big league arms to inject some life into an outfield that has underwhelmed.

Fairchild was part of that outfield mix very briefly. The 26-year-old was acquired from the Diamondbacks for cash in late April and appeared in three games, going hitless in a trio of plate appearances. A Seattle native, Fairchild was a second-round pick of the Reds in 2017 and has been traded twice in his young career. The M’s will have a week to deal him again or try to run him through outright waivers.

That’s also true of Ramirez, who has pitched in the bigs over the past three seasons. The right-hander owns a 3.97 ERA in 56 2/3 career innings, striking out a strong 28.6% of opponents. He’s also walked 15.2% of batters faced, however, and he’d been tagged for three homers in his first seven outings this year. The Mariners elected to move on, but he works in the mid-90s and has a pair of minor league option years remaining, so it’s possible another club takes a chance on him.

In his place, they’ll bring aboard a multi-inning option from the Cubs. Sampson started five of his ten appearances for Chicago last season, tossing 35 1/3 frames of 2.80 ERA ball. That came with an underwhelming 19.3% strikeout rate and an alarming 2.04 homers allowed per nine innings, but he pounded the strike zone and induced a fair amount of ground-balls. Chicago re-signed the righty to a minor league deal over the winter. He was selected to the big leagues on Sunday, pitched in one game, then was designated for assignment.

Mariners Place Mitch Haniger On 10-Day Injured List

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10:34PM: Haniger suffered a Grade 2 sprain, manager Scott Servais told MLB.com’s George Richards and other reporters.  There isn’t yet a timeline on Haniger’s recovery, as Servais said “we’ll have to wait to see how he responds to treatments and get the swelling down, get range of motion back and see where it takes us.”

3:52PM: Just a day after being reinstated from the COVID-related injured list, Mitch Haniger has been again placed back onto the 10-day IL.  This time, Haniger has been sidelined by a right high ankle sprain.  In the corresponding roster move, outfielder Stuart Fairchild has been called up from Triple-A.

Haniger suffered the injury in his first at-bat last night, rolling his ankle after fouling a pitch.  After hitting a single, Haniger had to be replaced on the basepaths by pinch-runner Abraham Toro.  An MRI was scheduled for today on Haniger’s ankle, but an IL stint seemed likely even if the injury was relatively mild.

If the MRI reveals a more serious injury, Haniger could miss quite a bit of time, which would be a serious setback for both the outfielder and the Mariners as a whole.  Between this ankle sprain and two missed weeks recovering from COVID-19, Haniger has only 36 plate appearances thus far in 2022, so the Mariners have largely been without one of their best hitters.

Another lengthy injury absence also wouldn’t help Haniger’s future market value, as he is slated to hit free agency after the season.  Haniger has been at times mentioned as a possible extension or trade candidate for the M’s, though the possibility of a trade would seemingly diminish if this high ankle sprain keeps him sidelined for most or all of the pre-deadline period.  Haniger is unfortunately no stranger to the IL, having missed over half of the 2019 season due to a ruptured testicle, and then all of the 2020 season due to surgeries related to a torn adductor muscle.

The Mariners have Jesse Winker, Julio Rodriguez, and Jarred Kelenic lined up as the starting outfield, but all three have struggled badly to begin the 2022 season.  Kyle Lewis is still working his way back from knee surgery, and was expected to see mostly DH duty until his knee is fully back up to strength.  Between Lewis’ health and the fact that neither Rodriguez or Kelenic have done much of anything at the MLB level, Haniger’s veteran bat was seen as a big stabilizing force in Seattle’s outfield.

Utilityman Dylan Moore figures to get more playing time with Haniger out, plus the Mariners could use Adam Frazier in left field rather than at second base.  Billy Hamilton and Steven Souza Jr. are two familiar veteran names at Triple-A, but most immediately, Fairchild will now get another look at the big league level.  Fairchild made his Major League debut by playing 12 games with the Diamondbacks in 2021, and the Mariners acquired Fairchild earlier this week after the D’Backs designated Fairchild for assignment.

Mariners Acquire Stuart Fairchild, Designate Kevin Padlo

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The Mariners announced that outfielder Stuart Fairchild has been acquired from the Diamondbacks in exchange for cash considerations.  To open up a roster spot, infielder Kevin Padlo has been designated for assignment.

Arizona DFA’ed Fairchild earlier this week.  Originally acquired along with Josh VanMeter in the Archie Bradley deal at the 2020 trade deadline, Fairchild’s tenure with the Diamondbacks saw him make his MLB debut last season, appearing in 12 games and making 17 plate appearance with the D’Backs.  Fairchild posted some big numbers at Triple-A in 2021 but got off to a slow start this year, with only a .162/.279/.379 slash line over 43 PA for Triple-A Reno.

Fairchild will now look for a fresh start with his hometown team, as the 26-year-old was born in Seattle and played his high school ball in the Emerald City before playing his college ball at Wake Forest.  The Reds selected Fairchild with the 38th overall pick of the 2017 draft, and he has posted solid (.272/.358/.438, 35 homers in 1443 PA) if unspectacular numbers over his minor league career.  Fairchild can also play all three outfield positions, making him an interesting depth piece for the Mariners.

Padlo also made his Major League debut in 2021, playing in nine games with the Rays and then one game with the Mariners after being claimed off waivers from Tampa in August.  Padlo has 92 home runs and a .239/.350/.439 slash line over 2738 career PA in the minors, with a resume that includes quite a lot of power potential and swing-and-miss.

Despite some nice numbers for the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers following last year’s trade, Padlo didn’t get a long look on the M’s big league roster and he was also off to a rough start with the Rainiers this season.  It wouldn’t be a surprise to see another club take a flier of a waiver claim on Padlo just as the Mariners did last August, to see if some consistent results could be mined from his power bat.

Diamondbacks Claim Jacob Webb, Designate Stuart Fairchild

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The D-Backs announced this afternoon they’ve claimed reliever Jacob Webb off waivers from the Braves. To create space on the 40-man roster, they designated outfielder Stuart Fairchild for assignment.

Atlanta had somewhat surprisingly designated Webb for assignment last week. The 28-year-old has generally been an effective bullpen piece over the past few seasons, tossing 76 2/3 innings of 2.47 ERA ball since debuting in 2019. That included a sterling 1.39 mark in 32 1/3 frames as a rookie, although Webb’s peripherals that season were more ordinary. Unfortunately, Webb spent notable chunks of each of his first couple seasons on the injured list. In 2019, went down in August with a season-ending elbow impingement. The following year, he missed the first month and a half of the shortened schedule because of a shoulder strain.

Webb returned to health last season and worked 34 1/3 frames with a 4.19 ERA. His 21.6% strikeout rate is a few points below the MLB average, but that belies some excellent swing-and-miss numbers on a per-pitch basis. Webb racked up swinging strikes on 15.6% of his offerings last year, one of the top marks around the league.

Arizona will take a low-risk flier to see if he can translate that whiff rate into a few more punchouts and settle into the middle innings. The D-Backs had one of the league’s worst bullpens last season, giving Webb plenty of opportunity to stake a claim to a spot. He has a minor league option year remaining as well, so the Snakes can shuttle him between Arizona and Triple-A Reno for the remainder of the year if he sticks on the 40-man roster.

Fairchild loses his spot on the 40-man roster and will be traded or placed on waivers within the next week. A second-round pick of the Reds in 2017, he was dealt to the D-Backs alongside the since-traded Josh VanMeter at the 2020 deadline for reliever Archie Bradley. Fairchild posted a strong .295/.385/.564 line in 44 games with Reno last year to earn his first MLB call, but he only appeared in 12 contests with Arizona.

Optioned back to Triple-A to open this season, Fairchild has gotten off to a miserable start. He’s hitting .162/.279/.378 in 43 trips to the dish, striking out 15 times. In the wake of that rough start, the D-Backs decided to bump Fairchild off the roster. He still has a pair of options and can cover all three outfield positions, so it’s not out of the question a team that liked the 26-year-old as a prospect takes a shot on him.

Diamondbacks Select Henry Ramos

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The Diamondbacks have selected the contract of outfielder Henry Ramos, per a team announcement. Fellow outfielder Stuart Fairchild was optioned to make room on the active roster. The 40-man roster already had a vacancy, meaning a corresponding move will not be necessary there.

As soon as Ramos gets into a game, he will make his major league debut. It’s been a long journey for the 29-year-old, who was originally selected by the Red Sox way back in the fifth round of the 2010 draft. He hasn’t made much noise since then, with his only appearance on a team top 30 at Baseball America coming back in 2015, when he ranked #29 on Boston’s list. He climbed to Triple-A in the Boston system in 2016 before reaching free agency after that season. Since then, he has spent time in the minors with the Dodgers and Giants, before signing on with the Diamondbacks this year.

Ramos earned his way to this promotion by absolutely mashing in Triple-A this season. In 294 plate appearances over 75 games, Ramos has slashed .371/.439/.582, good enough for a wRC+ of 153. For a Diamondbacks team that is nowhere near contention, they can use some of their remaining season to see if he can transfer any of that production to the big leagues.

Diamondbacks Reinstate Carson Kelly, Place Five On COVID-IL,

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The Diamondbacks appear to be dealing with a COVID outbreak, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today. He lists Stuart Fairchild, Joe Mantiply, Noe Ramirez, Riley Smith and Pavin Smith as those going on the IL.

Manager Torey Lovullo told Zach Buchanan of The Athletic that Ramirez and Fairchild actually tested positive. Because of those positive tests, they will have to be isolated for at least 10 days. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic quoted Lovullo as saying that they are dealing with symptoms. Steve Gilbert of MLB.com added that Mantiply and the Smiths were placed on the IL for as close contacts, which means they will have to quarantine for at least seven days.

The team later announced many roster moves to compensate for the loss of so many players. Carson Kelly was reinstated from the IL. J.B. Bukauskas was recalled. Miguel Aguilar, Ryan Buchter, Stefan Crichton and Drew Ellis had their contracts selected.

Kelly has been out since June 20th with a fractured wrist. When healthy, he’s been a force at the plate, playing 50 games and producing a wRC+ of 128, well above average for any player but certainly for a catcher.

Ellis, a 25-year-old infielder, was a second round pick by the Diamondbacks in 2017. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs describes him as “a power-over-hit first base type.” In 65 games at Triple-A this year, he has a slash of .286/.396/.554, good enough for a wRC+ of 129.

In 14 2/3 innings this year, Bukauskas has struggled to an ERA just under 8. Though advanced metrics think there’s some bad luck in that small sample size.

Buchter is a 34-year-old journeyman lefty who also pitched 14 2/3 innings for Arizona this year, with an ERA of  5.52, before being designated for assignment and clearing waivers a few weeks ago.

Crichton, a 29-year-old right-hander, threw 22 1/3 innings of 6.04 ERA ball before himself being designated and outrighted last month.

Aguilar is a 26-year-old right-handed pitcher who has spent some time in the Reds’ system and has no major league experience.

 

Diamondbacks Designate Junior Guerra

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The Diamondbacks have designated right-handers Junior Guerra and Joel Payamps for assignment. They added righty J.B. Bukauskas, Luis Frias and Matt Peacock, outfielder Stuart Fairchild and infielder Geraldo Perdomo to their 40-man roster.

The 35-year-old Guerra joined the Diamondbacks on a one-year guarantee worth $2.65MM last offseason. He wound up posting 23 2/3 innings of 3.04 ERA/4.12 FIP ball with a 50.8 percent groundball rate, but with just 7.99 K/9 against 5.7 BB/9, the Diamondbacks decided to move on from Guerra.

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