Minor MLB Transactions: 5/25/19
A look at a few minor 40-man roster transactions from Saturday…
- The Phillies moved reliever David Robertson from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day version, clearing space for fellow righty J.D. Hammer‘s promotion. Robertson went to the IL on April 15, so this shift means he’ll be out until at least mid-June. While Robertson was one of the Phillies’ many headline-grabbing additions in the offseason, when they signed him to a two-year, $23MM contract, a flexor strain has helped prevent him from making a positive impact. Across the 6 2/3 innings Robertson has thrown this season, the 34-year-old has only mustered a 5.40 ERA with matching strikeout and walk rates (8.10 per nine).
- The Indians selected left-hander Josh D. Smith‘s contract from Triple-A Columbus, per a club announcement. In other moves, they recalled outfielder Greg Allen and optioned righty Adam Plutko and catcher Eric Haase. The Indians’ 40-man roster is at 39 with Smith, a 29-year-old who’s in his first season with the organization after signing a minor league deal over the winter. Smith went to the Pirates in the 25th round of the 2012 draft, later joining the Red Sox (who currently employ the other Josh Smith) in 2017, but still hasn’t taken a big league mound. He earned a promotion on the strength of a 1.82 ERA with 11.68 K/9 and 3.65 BB/9 in 24 2/3 innings with Columbus.
- The Mariners transferred reliever Sam Tuivailala from the 10-day IL to the 60-day shelf when they welcomed back third baseman Kyle Seager. Tuivailala, 26, is still on the mend from the right Achilles injury he suffered last August.
Mariners Activate Kyle Seager
The Mariners have activated 3B Kyle Seager from the 60-Day IL, per a team release. The 31-year-old had been rehabbing from a torn tendon in his left (non-throwing) hand after a dive-gone-awry early in Spring Training.
Seager will hope to inject some much-needed life into a floundering Mariners club, which has gone a hard-to-believe 10-28 after a 13-2 start over the season’s first couple weeks. Fill-in third baseman Ryon Healy has hit the IL after a middling kick-off to the ’19 campaign, and the team has also lost second sacker Dee Gordon to a right wrist contusion.
From 2012-17, the sweet-swinging Seager established himself as one of the game’s premier third basemen, averaging 4.3 fWAR per season over the stretch, with an overall output topped only by Josh Donaldson and Adrian Beltre. Seager’s offensive performance has slid precipitously over the last two seasons, however, bottoming out in ’18 with an unfortunate .221/.273/.400 (84 wRC+) line in 630 PAs for the M’s.
A balky big toe may have been much to blame, though, and the nine-year vet spent much of the offseason immersed in a nutrition and weight loss program designed purely to alleviate the pain’s root. A rebound to previously-established levels could make the 31-year-old an attractive midseason trade chip, though the club would almost certainly have to eat a decent portion of the some $45MM remaining on the former all-star’s contract.
Mariners Release Tyler Danish
The Mariners have released right-hander Tyler Danish from his minor league contract, Greg Johns of MLB.com reports (via Twitter). He’d been in his first year with the organization.
Danish, 24, was the White Sox’ second-round pick back in the 2013 draft and was long considered to be one of the more promising arms in Chicago’s system. However, his results as a starter continually deteriorated as he rose through the minors, and the White Sox eventually moved him into a bullpen role last year. Danish found some success as a reliever, pitching to a 3.01 ERA with 6.7 K/9, 3.5 BB/9, 0.75 HR/9 and a 50.2 percent grounder rate in 71 1/3 innings last season.
Solid bottom-line results notwithstanding, the Sox outrighted Danish off the 40-man roster late in the 2018 campaign, and he elected free agency following the season. The Mariners added him on a minor league deal in January, hoping that he’d be able to build on last year’s success, but the season has been catastrophic for Danish. In 15 2/3 innings, he’s surrendered 44 hits and walked nine batters en route to a 21.26 ERA. Danish wasn’t placed on the injured list at any point, so it seems as though he’s healthy. While his early struggles are surely cause for some degree of alarm, he’s still only a few months removed from a solid showing in Triple-A and could land another minor league deal elsewhere in search of a fresh start.
Blue Jays Claim Zac Rosscup, Designate Jimmy Cordero
The Blue Jays have claimed lefty Zac Rosscup off waivers from the Mariners, per a club announcement. In order to open a spot on the 40-man roster, Toronto has designated right-hander Jimmy Cordero for assignment.
Rosscup, 30, inked a Major League deal with the Mariners this offseason, although that came with a modest $610K guarantee at the MLB level, so the Blue Jays aren’t really adding any salary to the books. Through 14 innings in Seattle, Rosscup pitched to a palatable 3.21 ERA with a whopping 20 strikeouts, but he also walked 14 batters and threw a pair of wild pitches.
As noted yesterday, Rosscup had some appealing qualities to him — namely a hefty 40 strikeouts and 18.3 percent swinging-strike rate in his past 25 1/3 big league innings. He’s fallen behind way too many hitters this season but has also generated a swinging strike on 30 of the 101 sliders he’d thrown, so there’s certainly some level of intrigue surrounding his ability to miss bats. If the Jays can sort him out, he’d be controllable through the 2021 season.
Cordero, meanwhile, was a recent waiver claim himself but barely lasted a week in his return to the Blue Jays organization. He appeared in one game with the Jays and allowed a solo homer in 1 1/3 innings pitched. Cordero has a 5.75 ERA, 12 strikeouts and 12 walks in 20 1/3 MLB frames to go along with a career 3.41 ERA, 10.4 K/9 and 4.7 BB/9 in 63 1/3 innings of Triple-A ball. The 27-year-old has averaged 97.5 mph on a blistering heater in his limited big league action over the past two seasons and can be optioned freely for the remainder of the 2019 season, but he’ll be out of minor league options come 2020.
Minor MLB Transactions: 5/22/19
The latest minor moves from around baseball…
- The Mariners have outrighted Nick Rumbelow and Mike Wright to Triple-A after both relievers cleared waivers, as per a team announcement. The two right-handers were each designated for assignment last week. Wright was acquired from the Orioles last month and made seven appearances (a 9.00 ERA over 11 innings) before being designated, while Rumbelow tossed 1 1/3 innings for Seattle over three appearances.
- The Reds have released third baseman Taylor Sparks, according to Roster Roundup (Twitter link). Sparks was a second-round draft pick for Cincinnati in 2014, selected 58th overall out of UC Irvine. Heralded for his speed, athleticism, and third base glovework, Sparks didn’t generate consistent results at the plate over six seasons in the Reds’ farm system, with just a .217/.291/.389 slash line over 1940 career plate appearances in the minors.
Mariners Designate Ryan Garton For Assignment
The Mariners announced Tuesday that they’ve designated right-hander Ryan Garton for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to right-hander Anthony Bass, whose previously reported Major League deal with the team has now been formally announced.
Garton, 29, joined the club just last week and has appeared in only two games since that promotion, during which time he’s allowed four runs on four hits and a walk with one strikeout in three innings of work. He’s been with the Mariners before, back in 2017, when he logged a 1.54 ERA in 11 2/3 frames. Garton has a 4.90 ERA with 7.0 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9 in 64 1/3 innings of work and owns a career 3.09 ERA and 10.6 K/9 in 145 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level. The Mariners will have a week to trade Garton or pass him through outright waivers. He’s been outrighted in the past, so he’d have the option of declining an outright assignment in favor of free agency.
Mariners Place Dee Gordon, Ryon Healy On 10-Day IL
The Mariners announced a lengthy list of roster moves today. Infielders Dee Gordon (right wrist contusion) and Ryon Healy (lower back inflammation) were placed on the 10-day injured list, while righty Parker Markel was optioned out.
Those departures cleared the way for a trio of additions. As already reported, lefty Tommy Milone was added to the 40-man and active rosters. He’ll be joined in the bigs by infielders Shed Long and Dylan Moore.
It doesn’t seem there’s much reason to fear lengthy absences from Gordon or Healy, though details aren’t yet known. Gordon has struggled since being hit by a pitch recently. Healy left last night’s contest with a back flare-up.
Mariners Expected To Sign Anthony Bass
The Mariners are “expected” to secure a deal with righty Anthony Bass, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The 31-year-old had been pitching in the Reds organization but is said to have triggered an opt-out clause.
Bass has seen sporadic MLB action in parts of seven seasons, compiling a 4.51 ERA in 299 1/3 total frames. He performed well last year in a 16-appearance stint with the Cubs but settled for a minors deal with the Reds.
After failing to win a MLB job in camp, Bass ended up at Triple-A Louisville to open the current campaign. Through 20 1/3 innings, he owns a 2.21 ERA with 19 strikeouts against six walks and 13 hits.
Whether the Mariners will bring Bass onto the MLB roster as part of the arrangement isn’t yet clear. Regardless, he seems well positioned to get a shot with a bullpen that has already hosted quite a few different hurlers at this early stage of the season.
Mariners To Select Tommy Milone
4:37pm: Milone will indeed step onto the roster to take the start, manager Scott Servais tells Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times (via Twitter).
4:24pm: The Mariners need a starter in what would’ve been righty Erik Swanson‘s spot — Swanson was optioned to Triple-A last Friday — and MLB.com’s Greg Johns tweets that southpaw Tommy Milone is with the big league club right now. There’s been no formal announcement from the team, but Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times tweeted today that “all indications” suggested that Milone would start for the Mariners tomorrow. Seattle would need to formally select Milone’s contract and add him to the 40-man roster, which seems quite likely at this point.
Milone, 32, opened the season with the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma and has pitched to a 3.83 ERA with 7.8 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 1.28 HR/9 and a 37.7 percent ground-ball rate. Mariners fans would likely prefer to see the upside of top prospect Justus Sheffield rather than the veteran Milone, but manager Scott Servais told Johns and others recently that the team’s preference moving forward is to promote Sheffield only when he’s deemed ready for a long-term audition. It still seems quite likely that’ll come at some point this season, but Sheffield has pitched just 18 2/3 innings with a 4.82 ERA and a 21-to-14 K/BB ratio over his past four starts; it’s not as if he’s kicked in the door to the big leagues with his recent work.
Milone will join Marco Gonzales, Yusei Kikuchi, Wade LeBlanc and Mike Leake in the team’s starting five for now, though the length of his stay will surely be tied to his performance. Seattle does have alternatives in the upper minors, and GM Jerry Dipoto is never shy about adding options from outside the organization.
Braves, Mariners Swap Jesse Biddle, Anthony Swarzak
1:13pm: The Mariners are sending around $2MM to the Braves in the trade to balance out the difference in salary, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. Paired with the remaining money that would’ve been allocated for Biddle’s pre-arb salary, it seems likely that the trade is effectively cash-neutral.
12:51pm: The Mariners announced that they’ve acquired left-handed reliever Jesse Biddle and right-hander Arodys Vizcaino from the Braves in exchange for right-hander Anthony Swarzak and cash. Vizcaino’s inclusion in the trade would appear to be purely a financial component of the trade, as he’s a free agent at season’s end and is not expected to pitch again in 2019 after undergoing shoulder surgery. Vizcaino is on the 60-day injured list, so there are no additional 40-man moves required by the Mariners to accommodate the addition of Biddle, who will report to the team’s Major League bullpen.
Biddle, 27, gave the Braves 63 2/3 innings of 3.11 ERA ball with 9.5 K/9, 4.4 BB/9, 0.85 HR/9 and a 55.6 percent ground-ball rate in 2018, but virtually nothing has gone right for the southpaw so far in 2019. Through 15 appearances and a span of 11 2/3 frames, Biddle has served up seven earned runs (and another four unearned runs) on 18 hits and 10 walks with 11 strikeouts. His velocity has remained strong, as Biddle has averaged 94.1 mph on his fastball so far in 2019.
Because he was out-of-options and playing on a win-now club, Biddle’s fate looked largely sealed as this year’s control struggles continued from April into May. He was designated for assignment by the Braves last week. The Mariners will hope that they’re able to turn him around and get him back to his 2018 form. If they can manage to do so, they’ll control Biddle through the 2023 season. However, he’ll have to sort things out at the big league level, as his lack of minor league options means he can’t be sent down without first being passed through waivers.
For the Braves, they’d already decided to move on from Biddle and stood to watch Vizcaino leave as a free agent at the end of the year, so they’re not really giving up anything to take a cheap look at Swarzak. The 33-year-old Swarzak has struggled to a 5.27 ERA and eight walks (one intentional) in 13 2/3 innings with the Mariners, but he’s also racked up 17 strikeouts. Injuries have hampered him considerably since signing a two-year, $14MM contract with the Mets prior to the 2018 season, as he’s dealt with an oblique strain and a pair of shoulder-related injuries.
In his last full, healthy season in 2017, however, Swarzak turned in 77 1/3 innings with a 2.33 ERA, 10.6 K/9, 2.1 BB/9, 0.70 HR/9 and a 43.9 percent grounder rate between the White Sox and Brewers. That success is recent enough to give the Braves something to dream on as they scour what is likely an extremely thin trade market for bullpen help at this juncture of the season. Atlanta will surely be active in pursuing additional pieces over the next couple of months, but few teams are willing to sell off quality arms in mid-May — and those that are willing to do so generally place lofty asking prices on said arms given the scarce supply this time of year.
Swarzak will head to Atlanta without any sort of guarantee that he’ll be a long-term piece for the remainder of the season. The fact that the Braves unloaded the remaining $3.43MM on Vizcaino’s deal and acquired cash from the Mariners makes it likely that Seattle sent enough money to make this a cash-neutral swap. Swarzak is being paid an $8.5MM salary in 2019 and has about $6.08MM of that sum still to be paid out.