Minor MLB Transactions: 5/1/16
Here are today’s minor transactions from around baseball:
- The Indians have placed catcher Roberto Perez on the disabled list with a thumb injury and recalled Adam Moore from Triple-A to take his place, according to ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (Twitter link). Perez, Yan Gomes‘ backup, was a 1.7-fWAR player in just 70 games last year, but he has only appeared in four contests this season, going without a hit in 15 PAs. In 287 big league PAs, the 31-year-old Moore and has hit a weak .201/.241/.309.
- The Nationals activated catcher Wilson Ramos from the bereavement list before their game against the Cardinals on Sunday and optioned backstop Pedro Severino to Triple-A, per Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com (on Twitter). Ramos, a career .259/.301/.413 hitter over 1,839 big league PAs, batted a solid .316/.328/.491 with two home runs and threw out four of eight base stealers in April. Severino appeared in only one game and logged three PAs in Ramos’ absence.
- The White Sox have activated closer David Robertson from the bereavement list and optioned right-hander Tommy Kahnle to Triple-A, reports Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago (Twitter link). Robertson, who hasn’t pitched since Wednesday, has converted eight of nine save opportunities this season in dominant fashion. The 31-year-old has racked up 13 strikeouts in 10 1/3 innings of work while surrendering a single run. Kahnle threw an inning for the White Sox prior to today and walked two batters.
- The Braves recalled utilityman Emilio Bonifacio from Triple-A and optioned right-handed reliever Chris Withrow on Sunday morning. However, because of a rule technicality the Braves were unaware of, they can’t activate Bonifacio today, tweets David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Specifically, the Braves need to wait 30 days from the date they released Bonifacio (April 6) to activate him, per O’Brien (Twitter link). Atlanta brought back the switch-hitting Bonifacio on a minor league deal after it released him. He owns a career .259/.316/.337 line in 2,807 major league plate appearances and will lengthen the Braves’ bench if he’s ultimately activated. Atlanta needed reserve depth after it had utilized a 13-man pitching staff over the last couple weeks, as Mark Bowman of MLB.com wrote Saturday. Withrow, a former Dodger, threw seven innings with the Braves prior to today, striking out four and allowing three earned runs on five hits and five walks. Those seven frames were Withrow’s first in the majors since 2014, as he underwent Tommy John surgery that year and later required surgery on a herniated disk in his lower back.
White Sox Acquire Tommy Kahnle From Rockies
The White Sox announced that they have acquired right-hander Tommy Kahnle from the Rockies in exchange for minor league right-hander Yency Almonte (Twitter link). Kahnle was designated for assignment by the Rockies last Friday in a series of moves to set the club’s roster in advance of the Rule 5 Draft.
Kahnle, who turned 26 in August, came to the Rockies from the Yankees organization by way of the Rule 5 Draft in 2013. He’s totaled 102 innings for the Rox over the past two years — his lone MLB experience — and posted a 4.41 ERA while averaging exactly one strikeout per inning to go along with a strong 49.4 percent ground-ball rate. Kahnle’s problem, however, has been a lack of control. Though he’s averaged 95 mph on his fastball in the Majors (95.9 mph in 2015), he’s averaged 5.2 walks per nine innings pitched and issued an alarming 27 unintentional walks in 33 1/3 innings this past season.
The 21-year-old Almonte came to the Sox as the player to be named later in the 2014 deal that sent Gordon Beckham to the Angels. Almonte spent the 2015 campaign pitching for Class-A Kannapolis and Class-A Advanced Winston-Salem, posting a combined 3.41 ERA with 7.2 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9 in 137 1/3 innings (22 starts; 24 total appearances). He didn’t rank among Chicago’s Top 30 prospects, per MLB.com.