Minor MLB Transactions: 5/23/21
The latest minor moves from around baseball…
- The Mariners outrighted first baseman/outfielder Jose Marmolejos to Triple-A, the club announced. Marmolejos cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week. The 28-year-old has hit .177/.263/.355 over 209 plate appearances with Seattle in the last two seasons, which marks all of Marmolejos’ career big league experience. Marmolejos spent nine seasons in the Nationals’ minor league system (hitting .288/.354/.448 with 72 home runs in 3440 plate appearances) before signing a minors contract with Seattle after the 2019 campaign.
Phillies Claim Brady Lail, Designate Ramon Rosso
The Phillies have claimed right-hander Brady Lail off waivers from the Mariners, both teams announced. To create roster space for Lail, Philadelphia also designated right-hander Ramon Rosso for assignment.
Lail was designated himself earlier this week, and he also came to Seattle via waiver claim off the White Sox roster last August. After tossing 15 innings for the Mariners last season, Lail had two innings pitched in two appearances this season, allowing three runs.
Lail has now appeared in each of the last three MLB seasons, with a 6.00 ERA over 21 career innings with the Yankees, White Sox, and Mariners. Originally an 18th-round draft pick for the Yankees in 2012, Lail is likely a known commodity to Phillies manager (and former New York skipper) Joe Girardi, and the righty can provide the Phils with more bullpen depth.
Rosso made his Major League debut in 2020 and has posted a 5.73 ERA over 11 innings in the Show over the last two seasons. After posting some solid numbers during his trip up Philadelphia’s minor league ladder, Rosso seemed to hit something of a wall at Triple-A, with only a 5.59 ERA over 77 1/3 innings at the top level of the minors. He has a 26.74% strikeout rate over 330 2/3 career innings in the minors, but that number steadily declined as Rosso advanced to face tougher competition.
Rosso worked almost exclusively as a starter from 2017-19, though he has been deployed as a reliever over the last two years, so he wasn’t considered as a depth option even for a Phillies team that has been hurting for help in the back end of the rotation. It’s possible another team might claim Rosso with an eye towards stretching him back out as a starter, or perhaps using him as a swingman.
Mariners Sign Trio Of Players To Minor League Deals
The Mariners have signed utilityman Ty Kelly to a minor league deal, per an announcement from the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League (Twitter link). Kelly had signed with the Ducks in April but will now return to affiliated ball. He’s been assigned to Triple-A Tacoma.
Kelly, 32, announced his retirement from professional baseball in August 2019. He sat out the 2020 season but is making a comeback attempt after more than a year and a half away. Kelly’s MLB time to this point has been bookended by stints with the Mets in 2016 and 2018, although his most extensive playing time came with the 2017 Phillies. Altogether, he’s taken 188 plate appearances at the highest level, slashing .203/.288/.323. Kelly carries a much better .268/.368/.382 mark in parts of eight seasons at Triple-A and has experience all around the diamond.
The Mariners also signed southpaw Williams Jerez to a minors deal, per his transactions log at MLB.com. He’s also been assigned to Triple-A. Jerez tossed 25 1/3 innings across 29 major league relief appearances for the Angels, Giants and Pirates from 2018-19. He didn’t find much success at the MLB level, working to a 5.33 ERA/5.02 SIERA. Jerez has been better in Triple-A, where he’s tossed 123 2/3 frames of 4.15 ERA ball with solid strikeout and walk rates (27.1% and 8.9%, respectively).
Kelly and Jerez are joined on the Rainiers active roster by longtime big leaguer Héctor Santiago. The veteran lefty signed with Seattle earlier this month and has already made a pair of starts for Tacoma, working nine innings of four-run ball with a whopping 16 strikeouts and five walks. Santiago was a mainstay in big league rotations for much of the last decade, throwing 100-plus innings in five different seasons. He didn’t pitch last year after being released by the Tigers in July. Santiago offers an experienced depth option for a Seattle club relying on quite a few young arms at the major league level right now.
Latest On Mariners COVID Situation
MAY 22: Dugger and Misiewicz were each reinstated from the IL before this evening’s game against the Padres, per a team announcement. Fletcher and Mills were optioned back to Tacoma.
MAY 21, 6:17pm: The Mariners announced a series of roster moves related to the positive test. Right-handers Robert Dugger, Drew Steckenrider and Will Vest were all placed on the IL, as was lefty Anthony Misiewicz. The Mariners did not indicate that a player tested positive but rather that the moves were made “out of an abundance of caution” due to a “potential” positive. Further testing and contact tracing is being conducted.
In a slate of corresponding moves, the Mariners reinstated right-hander Keynan Middleton from the injured list, selected the contract of journeyman infielder Eric Campbell and recalled three relievers from Triple-A Tacoma: lefty Aaron Fletcher and righties Wyatt Mills and Yohan Ramirez.
MAY 21, 2:08pm: The Mariners are dealing with a COVID-19 situation, as reported by both The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan. At least one player has tested positive for the virus, Passan reports, “and there is concern within the organization that the relatively low level of vaccination within the clubhouse could be problematic.” Not only are the Mariners under the league-mandated 85% vaccination threshold for the lessening of COVID protocols, but the M’s “are among the least-vaccinated teams in” the entire league.
The Mariners are in San Diego tonight to begin a three-game series with the Padres. Any of those games or perhaps even the three-game set with the Athletics from May 24-26 could perhaps face postponement in the event of a widespread outbreak amongst the team, though there isn’t yet any word that the M’s have anything beyond just the one positive test.
Mariners Claim Daniel Zamora From Mets
The Mariners announced that left-hander Daniel Zamora was claimed off waivers from the Mets. Zamora was designated for assignment just yesterday by New York, and now will quickly head to a new team.
Originally a 40th-round pick for the Pirates in the 2015 draft, Zamora reached the majors and posted a 4.08 ERA over 17 2/3 innings with the Mets during the 2018-19 seasons, striking out 24 of his 77 batters faced. He didn’t make an appearance during the 2020 campaign, and Zamora has been hit hard in Triple-A action this season, with a whopping 20.25 ERA over four appearances and 6 2/3 innings for Triple-A Syracuse.
Despite those recent results, Zamora found a new home in short order. Like many teams this season, Seattle has been dealing with a number of pitching injuries, and also put four players on the COVID list yesterday. The Mariners currently have Aaron Fletcher as the only left-handed option in their bullpen, so there appears to be an opportunity for Zamora to find a place back in the majors.
Royals Acquire Domingo Tapia
The Royals have acquired right-hander Domingo Tapia from the Mariners, as announced by both teams. The M’s will receive cash considerations in their end of the deal. Tapia has been assigned to Kansas City’s Triple-A affiliate.
Signed as an amateur free agent by the Mets in 2009, Tapia finally made his MLB debut last season, tossing 4 1/3 innings for the Red Sox. Seattle acquired him via waiver claim last October, and Tapia tossed two scoreless innings before the Mariners designated him for assignment earlier this week.
Tapia has a 4.11 ERA over 691 1/3 innings in the minors. He has only a 17.6% strikeout rate against minor league batters, but Tapia is more of a grounder specialist, regularly topping the 50% threshold for groundball rates during his time in the Mets’ and Reds’ farm systems. Tapia will likely serve as a big league-ready depth option out of the Royals bullpen.
To create space on the 40-man roster for Tapia, Kansas City transferred righty Jesse Hahn to the 60-day injured list. Hahn, who was placed on the 10-day IL on April 12 with a right shoulder impingement, will now be out of action until at least June 11.
Mariners Claim Jacob Nottingham, Designate Jose Marmolejos
The Mariners announced a series of roster moves this afternoon. Seattle claimed catcher Jacob Nottingham off waivers from the Brewers and selected the contract of fellow backstop José Godoy. To create 40-man roster space, first baseman/corner outfielder José Marmolejos and reliever Brady Lail have been designated for assignment. Incumbent backup catcher Luis Torrens was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma.
It’s familiar territory for Nottingham. He played for Milwaukee from 2018-21, but the Brewers designated him for assignment last month. Seattle claimed Nottingham off waivers but designated him for assignment themselves just four days later without giving him an opportunity to get into a game. In the interim, the Brewers lost starting catcher Omar Narváez to injury, so Milwaukee quickly acquired Nottingham back for cash considerations. Now, with Narváez healthy, Nottingham found himself squeezed off the roster yet again.
Having acquired Nottingham twice in less than a month, the Seattle front office clearly has some affinity for the 26-year-old. The right-handed hitter was a decently-regarded prospect on the strength of his raw power, and he’s shown flashes of it over his first 99 MLB plate appearances, hitting .205/.293/.477 with seven homers. However, he comes with some question marks about his receiving aptitude and has struck out quite a bit at nearly every level of his pro career, including at a 38.4% clip in his brief major league time.
Nottingham is out of minor league option years, which has surely driven his recent roster shuffle. The Mariners must keep him on the MLB roster this time around or again risk losing him to another club. Optioning Torrens could suggest Seattle’s prepared to give Nottingham some run.
Acquired from the Padres as part of last summer’s Austin Nola trade, Torrens showed some offensive promise down the stretch last season. He’s gotten off to a terrible start to 2021, though, hitting .178/.219/.300 over 96 plate appearances. Torrens has also had a rough go defensively. He’s thrown out just two of 21 attempted base stealers, rated as a below-average pitch framer (per Statcast) and been behind the plate for a lofty 14 wild pitches in just 190 2/3 innings (although, to his credit, he hasn’t been charged with a passed ball). The Mariners surely hope Torrens can regain his footing on both sides of the ball in Tacoma.
Godoy began his pro career with the Cardinals organization. He spent the 2012-20 seasons in the St. Louis system, topping out at Triple-A. Godoy was at the Cards alternate training site last summer and elected minor league free agency at the end of the year. He signed a minors pact with Seattle over the winter and earned his first big league promotion with a strong start for Tacoma. All told, the 26-year-old carries a .315/.370/.481 line in 119 career Triple-A plate appearances and has hit .255/.339/.391 in parts of three seasons at Double-A.
Like Godoy, Marmolejos joined the Mariners via minor league free agency, doing so during the 2019-20 offseason. He’s picked up 209 MLB plate appearances over the past two seasons, although he didn’t do much at the plate. Marmolejos has hit just .177/.263/.355 and struck out in an alarming 30.6% of his plate appearances. Lail signed a minors pact over the winter and was selected to the MLB roster three days ago. He’s since pitched a pair of innings out of the bullpen, allowing three runs on four hits.
Mariners Select Brady Lail, Designate Domingo Tapia
The Mariners announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Brady Lail and designated righty Domingo Tapia for assignment. The club also optioned infielder Jack Mayfield to Triple-A Tacoma.
Lail was an 18th-round draft pick of the Yankees in 2012 who pitched with them, the White Sox and Mariners during the previous two seasons. He picked up just 19 innings in those years and registered a 5.21 ERA with a 17.3 percent strikeout rate against a 9.9 percent walk rate. The 27-year-old owns a similar 5.15 ERA in 327 Triple-A frames.
Tapia, 29, went to Seattle when it claimed him from Boston last offseason. He threw two scoreless innings with the Mariners before they designated him, giving him 6 1/3 frames of one-run ball in the majors. Tapia has notched a 4.21 ERA in 141 Triple-A frames.
Giants Claim Braden Bishop
The Giants have claimed outfielder Braden Bishop off waivers from the Mariners, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets. They shifted reliever Reyes Moronta to the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move, per Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group.
The 27-year-old Bishop is returning to his native Bay Area and joining the same organization as his brother, Hunter, a fellow outfielder and the 10th overall pick of the Giants in the 2019 draft. Hunter Bishop hasn’t reached the majors yet, but Braden Bishop has taken 99 plate appearances at the sport’s highest level. He only hit .133/.188/.156 as a Mariner, leading the team to designate him for assignment last week.
Despite his struggles in the bigs, Bishop has at least a couple things working in his favor. For one, he still has a minor league option left, so the Giants can call him up and send him down at their leisure for the rest of the season. And Bishop has shown that he can handle Triple-A pitching, having batted .267/.355/.465 in 231 PA there.
Mariners Place Evan White, Ty France On 10-Day IL
The Mariners announced that they have placed first baseman Evan White (strained left hip flexor) and infielder Ty France (left wrist inflammation) on the 10-day injured list. They recalled infielders Donovan Walton and Jack Mayfield in corresponding moves.
White struggled as a rookie in 2020 after signing a six-year, $24MM contract, and his offensive production has gotten even worse this season. Although White has slashed his strikeout rate by almost 12 percent since last year, he has still only mustered a .144/.202/.237 line with two home runs in 104 plate appearances. The 25-year-old’s wRC+ (29) ranks last in the majors among hitters who have amassed 100-plus PA, and though White’s .241 expected weighted on-base average paints a better picture than his .200 real wOBA, it’s still a dreary figure.
When White hasn’t started at first base this year, the Mariners have turned to France and Jose Marmolejos. They’re now also without France, who has been mired in a slump this month after a highly productive April. However, France still owns an above-average line of .229/.333/.366 (108 wRC+) with three home runs in 153 trips to the plate, and he has been versatile. Most of his work has come at designated hitter, but along with lining up there and at first base, he has logged 15 starts at second and another at third.