Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Zack Weiss

Angels Designate Steven Duggar, Jose Rojas For Assignment

By | at

The Angels announced Thursday that outfielder Steven Duggar and infielder Jose Rojas have been designated for assignment. Their spots on the 40-man roster will go to outfielder Ryan Aguilar and righty Zack Weiss, both of whom have had their contract selected from Triple-A Salt Lake.

Duggar, 28, was a sixth-rounder with the Giants back in 2015 and had some solid showings in San Francisco. He never established himself as a consistent presence in their outfield, however, in part due to injury troubles. Duggar suffered a torn labrum that required surgery in 2018, ending his rookie campaign. He avoided surgery on a second shoulder injury, sustained in August of 2019, but that issue still ended his season.

Duggar received minimal playing time in the shortened 2020 season but returned with a career-best .257/.330/.437 batting line in 297 trips to the plate in 2021. That success hasn’t carried over to the current campaign, however. He’s appeared with three different teams this season and batted .153/.225/.222 in 80 trips to the plate. Duggar, who’s capable of playing all three outfield spots, has already been traded once and claimed off waivers this season, so it’s possible there’s another club out there who’ll be interested in carrying him on the 40-man roster once he hits waivers. That outcome is a formality at this point; he’s ineligible to be traded and thus will be placed on outright or release waivers in the coming week.

Rojas, 29, has appeared in 83 games with the Halos over the past two seasons but managed just a .188/.245/.339 batting line in 241 plate appearances. He’s a .277/.344/.524 hitter in parts of four Triple-A campaigns, however, and has a minor league option remaining beyond this year, which enhances his appeal. Rojas also has notable amounts of experience in both outfield corners and at every infield slot other than shortstop, although he doesn’t have strong defensive grades at any of those spots in mostly limited MLB action.

Aguilar, 28 later this month, made his big league debut this year as a replacement player during the Angels’ series in Toronto. He’s in his first season with the Angels organization after spending his career in the Brewers system. Through 342 plate appearances of Double-A ball, he’s slashed .280/.427/.517 with 15 homers, 13 doubles, two triples and 11 steals.

Weiss, 30, is also in his first season with the Angels organization. The former Reds farmhand signed a minor league deal in the offseason and has turned in 50 innings of 4.50 ERA ball with a 29.7% strikeout rate against a 9.6% walk rate. Weiss received an extremely brief cup of coffee  with the 2018 Reds but did not retire any of the four batters he faced (two walks, two home runs allowed). He’ll obviously hope for a shot at redemption four years after the fact.

Twins Agree To Minor League Deal With Preston Guilmet

By | at

The Twins have made their first batch of minor league signings this winter, Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com reports (on Twitter), with right-hander Preston Guilmet the most experienced among them. Minnesota also added righty Zack Weiss and infielder Randy Cesar on a minor league pacts and re-signed right-hander Ryne Harper and catcher Wynston Sawyer.

Guilmet, 31, tossed 10 big league innings between the Cardinals and Blue Jays this past season but was tagged for 13 runs in that time. He was virtually unhittable with the Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate in Memphis, though, pitching to a 0.93 ERA with a 35-to-5 K/BB ratio in 29 innings of work there. Guilmet has struggled in parts of four big league seasons, albeit in just 33 total innings of work. He also spent the 2017 campaign pitching for Japan’s Yakult Swallows, where he turned in a solid 3.62 ERA with 9.4 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9 in 54 2/3 innings of relief.

Weiss, 26, made his big league debut with the Reds in 2018 but appeared in just one game without recording an out. He’ll hope for a better outcome with the Twins — just his second professional organization after spending six years with the Reds, who selected him in the sixth round of the 2013 draft. Weiss’ career has been slowed by injuries, most notably Tommy John surgery that cost him the 2016 season, but he’s averaged 11 strikeouts per nine innings pitched across 221 2/3 minor league innings while working to a 2.88 ERA.

Cesar, 24 in January, hit .296/.348/.428 with 10 homers for Houston’s Double-A affiliate while splitting his time evenly between first and third base in 2018. Harper, 30 in Spring Training, pitched to a 3.60 ERA with 86 strikeouts against just 10 walks in 65 innings between the Twins’ Double-A and Triple-A clubs this past season. The 27-year-old Sawyer batted .257/.387/.347 in a limited sample of 124 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A with the Twins in ’18.

Reds Release Zack Weiss

By | at

The Reds have released right-hander Zack Weiss in order to clear room on the 40-man roster for shortstop Blake Trahan, whose September call-up was reported earlier today.

Weiss, 26, has never known any organization other than the Reds. The organization drafted him in the sixth round all the way back in 2013, and he’s come up through their system as a reliever. His only major-league appearance, however, was an unmitigated disaster. On April 12th, Weiss faced the Cardinals and allowed four earned runs on a pair of walks and a pair of homers without recording a single out.

Even in the minors, Weiss has exhibited extreme control issues. At Triple-A this season, he walked 15 batters in just 11 1/3 innings pitched en route to a 12.27 BB/9, while also allowing 11 earned runs in that span. There’s at least some cause for intrigue surrounding the righty, though, as he managed 11.89 K/9 across 28 Double-A innings last year. His ERA in that span came out to a respectable 2.89, and if Weiss can harness some of that ability at the major-league level, he’d certainly be a useful arm to a major-league club.

Reds Place Eugenio Suarez, Scott Schebler On Disabled List

By | at

The Reds announced that they’ve placed third baseman Eugenio Suarez and outfielder Scott Schebler on the 10-day disabled list today. Suarez was diagnosed with a broken thumb after being hit by a pitch in yesterday’s game against the Pirates, while Schebler hasn’t played in a week due to a right elbow/ulnae nerve contusion (also stemming from a hit-by-pitch). Schebler’s DL stint is retroactive to April 6 — the maximum three-day period by which a DL placement can be backdated.

In their place, Cincinnati has recalled infielder Alex Blandino and right-hander Zack Weiss from Triple-A Louisville. Each player will be making his MLB debut the first time he gets into a big league game.

Blandino, 25, was the 29th overall pick in the 2014 draft but hasn’t seen his stock take off as the Reds would’ve hoped when investing such a lofty pick in the former Stanford star. Blandino, who hit .265/.382/.453 with a dozen homers and 36 doubles between Double-A and Triple-A last season, does rank in the organization’s top 20 prospects in the estimation of most major outlets, though. Fangraphs (No. 14) and MLB.com (No. 18) ranked him favorably, while ESPN’s Keith Law was more bullish and placed Blandino 10th (subscription link) among Reds farmhands. He’s generally regarded as a second/third baseman with quality on-base skills but average power at best.

Weiss, meanwhile, comes with just 29 innings of experience above Class-A Advanced — 28 in Double-A last season and one in Triple-A in 2018. He’s been slowed by elbow issues throughout his professional career but has also missed enough bats (11.2 K/9) and limited walks well enough (2.5 BB/9) in parts of five seasons that the Reds added him to the 40-man roster in the offseason.

Some Reds fans, of course, could be disheartened not to see Nick Senzel tabbed as an immediate replacement for Suarez, who figures to be on the shelf for more than the 10-day minimum as he recovers from his broken thumb. The former No. 2 overall draft pick is widely regarded as one of the top five to 10 prospects in all of baseball, and it’s believed that he’ll make his MLB debut at some point in 2018.

However, the Reds could gain an extra year of control over Senzel merely by waiting until this weekend to promote him for his first look in the Majors. And beyond any service time questions, it’s also possible that the organization simply doesn’t want to rush the highly touted infielder to the big leagues. Senzel has played in just three Triple-A games and logged only 57 games in Double-A last season. Senzel posted a .633 OPS in a small sample of plate appearances this spring in Major League camp with the Reds.

Additionally, with Suarez locked up to a new seven-year extension, it seems clear that Senzel will be moving off of third base in the long run. He’s played second base in his first three Triple-A games this year, but those are his lone (regular-season) professional games anywhere other than the hot corner, so there’s some logic in getting him additional reps in the middle infield before calling on him in the Majors as well.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

hide arrowsFOX Sports Engage Network scroll to top