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Zach Miner

Mariners Release Zach Miner

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The Mariners have released right-hander Zach Miner, according to the Pacific Coast League’s transactions page.

The 32-year-old Miner inked a minor league contract with Seattle this offseason but struggled in his time at Triple-A Tacoma, pitching to an 8.60 ERA with 6.0 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in 37 2/3 innings of work over one start and 20 relief appearances. Miner posted a 4.40 ERA in 28 2/3 innings with the Phillies last season, though his 20-to-17 K/BB ratio in that time suggests that he was a bit fortunate to escape with that ERA.

In parts of five seasons at the big league level between the Tigers and Phillies, Miner has a 4.25 ERA with 5.5 K/9, 3.8 BB/9 and a strong 47.5 percent ground-ball rate. Though last season marked his first Major League action since 2009, Miner still tied a career high by averaging 92.3 mph on his fastball.

Mariners Sign Randy Wolf, Zach Miner

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THURSDAY: The Mariners have announced the signings of Wolf and Miner.

Wolf will earn $1MM if he makes the roster, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (links all to Twitter). The contract also includes a variety of incentives tied to appearances (as a reliever or starter), days on the roster, and innings pitched. If Wolf maxes out his deal, says Rosenthal, he could reach $4.25MM in earnings.

TUESDAY, 1:05pm: Miner will earn $750K if he makes the Major League team and has a June 15 opt-out date, tweets Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish.

10:54am: The Mariners have agreed to a minor league deal with an invitation to Spring Training with veteran lefty Randy Wolf, tweets Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. Divish also tweets that the Mariners will sign right-hander Zach Miner to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training. Wolf is a client of the Wasserman Media Group, and Miner is represented by the Boras Corporation.

Seattle views Wolf as a potential bullpen option, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. The 37-year-old missed the entire 2013 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery late in the 2012 campaign. In that 2012 season, Wolf struggled to a 5.65 ERA with 5.9 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 and a 42.9 percent ground-ball rate (the highest of his career). Despite those struggles, he was solid for the Brewers the prior year, posting a 3.69 ERA in 212 1/3 innings out of their rotation.

Wolf owns a 4.20 ERA in 2268 career innings at the big league level and is a veteran of 14 Major League seasons with the Phillies, Astros, Dodgers, Brewers, Padres and Orioles.

Miner, 32 in March, pitched 28 1/3 innings for the Phillies in 2013 — his first Major League action since 2009. Miner turned in a 4.40 ERA with nearly as many walks (17) as strikeouts (20) in that time. However, there were a good deal of positives in Miner's game as well; his velocity was up more than a full mile per hour (91.8 mph average in 2013 compared to 90.7 in 2009), and he posted a strong 48.9 percent ground-ball rate.

Miner has a 4.25 career ERA in 385 1/3 innings between the Tigers and Phillies. Presumably, Seattle likes him as a potential swingman — a role he's had throughout the entirety of his Major League career to this point. Miner has appeared in 173 big league games, including 38 starts.

Phillies Outright Zach Miner, Pete Orr

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The Phillies announced that they have outrighted right-hander Zach Miner, infielder Pete Orr, lefty Mauricio Robles and utilityman Michael Martinez off their 40-man roster. Miner and Orr are of particular note, as each would've had to be retained via arbitration to remain with the organization.

Miner pitched 28 2/3 innings of 4.40 ERA ball for the Phillies with 6.3 K/9, 5.3 BB/9 and a strong 48.9 percent ground-ball rate. A veteran of parts of five Major League seasons, Miner has four years, 78 days of Major League service time. The 31-year-old posted a 3.90 ERA in 85 1/3 innings at Triple-A Lehigh Valley in 2013 and has a career ERA of 4.25 in 385 2/3 innings between the Phils and Tigers.

Orr collected just 22 appearances in his third straight season in the Phillies organization and posted a .684 OPS in Triple-A. To this point in his career, he's compiled four years, 145 days of Major League service time between the Phillies, Nationals and Braves. The 34-year-old is a career .257/.289/.328 hitter in 738 plate appearances.

Martinez, 30, has received 396 plate appearances at the big league level despite slashing just .187/.234/.261. Robles posted a sub-2.00 ERA betwen Double-A, Triple-A and the Majors, which would make it surprising that he cleared waivers to some, but the 24-year-old averaged six walks per nine innings.

The Phillies also lost Raul Valdes to the Astros and Tyler Cloyd to the Indians via waiver claims yesterday, meaning they've dropped six players from their 40-man roster in the past 24 hours.

Minor Moves: Slaten, Manzella, Acosta, Gaudin

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Here are the latest minor transactions from around the league…

  • SK Wyverns of the Korean Baseball Organization announced the signing of left-handed reliever Doug Slaten.  Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net (Twitter link) first reported the deal earlier this week.  Slaten has a 3.52 ERA in 216 games for the Diamondbacks, Nationals and Pirates since 2006, including a 2.16 ERA in 10 games with the Bucs in 2012.
  • The Rockies have signed shortstop Tommy Manzella to a minor league deal with a Spring Training invitation, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter).  Manzella last appeared in the majors in 2010 with the Astros and has bounced around the minors with four different organizations over the last two seasons.
  • Right-hander Manny Acosta has signed a one-year, $1.65MM contract with the Yomiuri Giants, according to Gene Mato, Acosta's agent (Twitter link).  The deal could be worth another $500K in bonuses.  Acosta, 31, was non-tendered by the Mets following a season that saw him post a 6.46 ERA over relief appearances.
  • The Giants have agreed to a minor league deal with right-hander Chad Gaudin, reports Janie McCauley of the Associated Press (via Twitter).  Gaudin posted a 4.54 ERA in 46 relief appearances for the Marlins last season.
  • The Yankees have signed catcher Bobby Wilson to a minor league deal that contains a Spring Training invite, reports ESPN's Buster Olney (Twitter link).  Wilson hit .211/.277/.292 batting line in 201 plate appearances with the Angels last season and was both claimed on waivers and non-tendered by the Blue Jays earlier this offseason.
  • The Yankees have also signed infielder Gil Velazquez to a minor league deal, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter).  The 33-year-old Velazquez received 57 PAs with the Marlins last year and also has Major League exerperience with the Angels and Red Sox.
  • The Cardinals have signed 18-year-old Dominican right-hander Alex Reyes to a contract worth $950K, reports MLB.com's Jesse Sanchez (via Twitter).
  • The Nationals signed 16-year-old Dominican third baseman Neivy Pilier to a $225K deal, reports Ben Badler of Baseball America.
  • The Nationals signed infielder Brian Bocock to a minor league contract, reports MLB.com's Bill Ladson (Twitter link).  Bocock last played in the majors in 2010 and has spent the last two seasons playing in the Phillies, Pirates and Blue Jays organizations.
  • The Padres acquired left-hander Chris Rearick from the Rays in exchange for infielder Vince Belnome, reports MLB.com's Corey Brock (via Twitter).
  • The Phillies have announced the signings of Andres Blanco, Josh Fields, Cesar Jimenez, Steven Lerud, Michael Martinez, Zach Miner, Jermaine Mitchell, Pete Orr and Humberto Quintero to minor league contracts with invitations to Spring Training.

Phillies Notes: Young, Roster Needs, Zach Miner

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Earlier today, MLB approved the Michael Young trade making the deal between the Phillies and Rangers official. Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. is pleased Young is a Phillie telling reporters, including MLB.com's Paul Hagen, "Clearly, this brings a wonderful package to what we're trying to do here in Philadelphia. He has a tremendous track record. He has all the elements we're looking for." Rangers manager Ron Washington seconded that notion, as quoted by Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News, "This is a very, very tough situation. Michael's been my go-to guy since I've been here. If there was crying in baseball, I guess I'd cry." There is definitely no crying in baseball, especially in Philadelphia, so put away the hankies and enjoy some more news and notes from the City of Brotherly Love. 

  • The Phillies believe Young will benefit from playing the field again and at just one position, tweets FOXSports.com Ken Rosenthal.
  • Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer disagrees with that assessment citing Young's advanced defensive metrics and that his wins above replacement in 2012 was among the worst in modern baseball history.
  • Also in that same piece, Gelb writes the Phillies are $20MM below last season's payroll, so the club has plenty of financial flexibility to add offense to their outfield. 
  • Amaro stills wants to add a veteran presence to the bullpen, do a "little bit more" to improve their outfield, and is open to acquiring a "low-risk, high-reward type of guy" for the back of the rotation, reports ESPN's Jerry Crasnick (Twitter links).  
  • The Phillies have signed right-hander Zach Miner to a minor league deal with an invitation to Spring Training, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports.com. Miner, who pitched for Detroit from 2006-09, spent last season in the Tigers' organization pitching to a 2.79 ERA, 4.9 K/9, and 4.7 BB/9 in 42 innings (including three starts) across three levels.

Minor Moves: Pettit, Hester, Miner

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We'll keep track of the day's minor (and Miner) moves right here…

  • The Mariners have signed outfielder Chris Pettit to a minor league deal, ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnicktweets. Pettit, who has MLB experience with the Angels, was released by the Dodgers at the end of Spring Training.
  • The Orioles released minor league catcher John Hester, Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com tweets. Baltimore’s Norfolk affiliate let Hester go to create roster space for the recently claimed Luis Exposito.
  • The Tigers have acquired right-hander Zach Miner from the Royals, Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star tweets. The Royals confirmed the deal, noting that they'll obtain cash for Miner (Twitter link). The 30-year-old pitched in the Royals' minor league system last year after pitching for the Tigers from 2006-09. Miner has a 4.24 ERA with 5.5 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9 as a big leaguer, but posted a 5.26 ERA with 5.9 K/9 and 3.8 BB/9 as a minor leaguer in 2011.

Minor Moves: Nunez, Palmer, Moss, Mock

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The latest minor moves from around MLB…

  • The Rays signed righty Jhonny Nunez to a minor league deal, tweets Baseball America's Matt Eddy.
  • The Padres signed right-hander Matt Palmer to a minor league deal, reports MLB.com's Corey Brock (Twitter link).
  • The Brewers signed outfielder Miguel Velazquez to a minor league deal, according to Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus (all links go to Twitter).
  • The A’s signed outfielder Brandon Moss to a minor league deal, according to Goldstein.
  • The Padres signed left-hander Alex Hinshaw to a minor league deal, according to Goldstein.
  • The Blue Jays signed former Nationals prospect Garrett Mock to a minor league deal, according to Goldstein.
  • The Royals announced that they signed right-hander Zach Miner, infielders Jamie Romak, Eric Duncan, Sharlon Schoop and Tony Abreu and left-handers Marlon Arias and Tommy Hottovy to minor league contracts. Miner, Abreu and Hottovy have big league experience, though only Hottovy appeared in the Major Leagues this past season. Duncan, once a highly-regarded prospect, posted a .849 OPS at Double-A as a utility player in 2011. Romak posted an .803 OPS for the Royals in 2011 and even pitched on two occasions.

Odds & Ends: Aardsma, Rendon, Miner, Germano

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Let's help ring in the New Year with some links..

  • "I've grown to really like that mlbtraderumors.com site," said David Aardsma to Kirby Arnold of The Herald. "I find out so much information about everybody – who we're bringing in, who we're looking at. So, it's kind of hard to miss it. In a way, I'm flattered they believe other teams would want me to be their closer." Welcome to the site, David!
  • Rice third baseman Anthony Rendon has been cleared to resume full baseball activities according to Joseph Duarte of The Houston Chronicle. Rendon suffered severe injuries to his right foot and ankle this past July, and is the early front runner to be the first overall selection in a loaded 2011 draft. 
  • The Royals see Zach Miner as a potential starter depending on how well and how quickly he comes back from Tommy John surgery, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports.  Earlier today the Royals signed the right-hander to a minor league deal.
  • Indians reliever Justin Germano has accepted an assignment to Triple-A Columbus, writes MLB.com's Jordan Bastian.  Meanwhile, the club's signing of Austin Kearns is not yet official due to the holidays.
  • Gabe Lacques of USA Today writes that there are no major gaps for the Tigers to fill.
  • Mike Axisa of River Ave. Blues wonders what the next collective bargaining agreement could mean for the MLB draft.

Royals Sign Zach Miner

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The Royals have signed pitcher Zach Miner to a minor league contract, according to a team press release.  The 28-year-old missed all of 2010 after undergoing surgery on his right elbow in late May.

In four seasons for the Tigers, the right-hander registered a 4.24 ERA with 6.0 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9.  Miner has 35 starts to his credit but the bulk of them came in 2006 and 2008. 

Detroit designated Miner for assignment in late November but the two sides discussed a new deal soon after.  Miner gave the Tigs a solid 56.1% groundball rate in 2007 but that number slipped in '08 and '09.

American League Non-Tenders

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This post will list all the American League players non-tendered today, but the best place to track all 200+ arbitration eligible players is our new non-tender tracker.

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