Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Blue Jays Rumors

Blue Jays Designate Scott Diamond

By | at

The Blue Jays have designated lefty Scott Diamond for assignment, as MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm reports on Twitter.

Diamond, 29, had appeared in only a single game for Toronto, surrendering three earned runs in one inning. That represents his first big league action since 2013, when Diamond wrapped up a three-year run with the Twins. Over 343 innings with Minnesota, all as a starter, Diamond worked to a 4.43 ERA with 4.2 K/9 against 2.2 BB/9.

The Jays had been using Diamond as a starter at the Triple-A level prior to his call-up. Over a dozen starts, he compiled a 3.16 ERA while striking out 4.5 and walking 1.7 batters per nine innings.

Minor MLB Transactions: 6/13/16

By | at

Here are the day’s minor moves from around the league…

  • The Angels announced today that right-hander Cody Satterwhite has been released from Triple-A Salt Lake so that he may sign with the Hanshin Tigers of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball (Twitter link). The 29-year-old Satterwhite — a former farmhand of the Tigers and Mets — was in his first season in the Angels organization and had pitched to a 1.80 ERA with 7.9 K/9 against 2.9 BB/9 in 18 relief appearances, totaling 25 innings. The former second-round pick (Tigers, 2008) has a career 3.71 ERA in 96 innings at the Triple-A level.

Earlier Moves

  • The Blue Jays are set to select the contract of left-hander Scott Diamond from Triple-A Buffalo, reports Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith. The Canadian-born southpaw hasn’t appeared in the Majors since 2013 with the Twins, but he has a strong 3.16 ERA through 74 innings in the minors this season. Diamond, 29, isn’t one to miss many bats (4.5 K/9 at Triple-A this season, 4.2 K/9 in 343 MLB innings), but he’s displayed excellent control throughout his career and keeps the ball on the ground quite well. He’s been starting with Buffalo but could step into a multi-inning relief role for the Jays; Nicholson-Smith writes that manager John Gibbons said the team’s bullpen is “on fumes right now.” The Jays will need to make a 40-man move to add Diamond to the mix, but they could simply move fellow lefty Franklin Morales to the 60-day DL in order to create room.

AL East Notes: Yankees, Tulowitzki, Groome

By | at

With Chris Parmelee now on the DL with a hamstring injury, the Yankees have no first basemen, Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal writes. Parmelee joins Mark Teixeira, Dustin Ackley and Greg Bird as first basemen who’ve gotten injured, and the team now has infielder Rob Refsnyder and catcher Austin Romine manning the position. Refsnyder had never appeared at first in a professional game before last week. Veteran Nick Swisher remains at Triple-A, but he’s batting just .238/.266/.339, and the Yankees don’t appear to have any plans to promote him. Here’s more from the AL East.

  • Blue Jays shortstop Troy Tulowitzki suffered a setback in his return from his quadriceps injury, writes Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith. Tulowitzki left an instra-squad game on Friday with discomfort. “It’s not like he re-injured it, but just seems a little hesitant or something,” manager John Gibbons explained. Tulowitzki had been scheduled to rejoin the Blue Jays Monday, but that now appears unlikely. He’s been out since May 27. The five-time All-Star is batting .204/.289/.383 in his first full season in Toronto.
  • The Red Sox got an unusual talent with the 12th overall pick in the draft in New Jersey high school hurler Jason Groome, but he comes with question marks, the Boston Herald’s Jason Mastrodonato writes. Groome’s draft stock fell due to questions about his makeup, although their nature mostly remains in the shadows. Mastrodonato writes that Vanderbilt University, to which Groome had previously been committed, lost interest in Groome for reasons that did not have to do with his baseball ability. Nonetheless, the Red Sox were enthused about his upside and unfazed by makeup questions. “We’re very comfortable we know who Jason Groome is,” Red Sox scouting director Mike Rikard says. Prior to the draft, MLB.com rated Groome the top talent available, noting his 6-foot-6 size, good velocity and potential to throw three quality pitches.

Heyman’s Latest: D-Backs, Villar, Mets, Yanks, Gibbons, Ramos

By | at

Diamondbacks GM Dave Stewart tells Jon Heyman of todaysknuckleball.com that the organization is “not giving up” despite a dismal start to the year. He did acknowledge that “the signs are not real good right now,” though. And in suggesting that the team thinks there’s a chance A.J. Pollock could return by September, Stewart added, somewhat ominously: “Hopefully, we’re still in it.”

Here are some more notes from the column:

  • When asked whether the Brewers would consider dealing shortstop Jonathan Villar this summer, GM David Stearns suggested it would be unlikely. “We are looking to acquire players like that,” he said. It’s been quite a turnaround for the 25-year-old since he followed Stearns from the Astros to Milwaukee. Over 250 plate appearances, Villar owns a .306/.405/.450 batting line with a league-leading 22 steals. Better still, he’ll likely fall shy of Super Two status next year, so there’s plenty of cheap control remaining.
  • The Mets haven’t tried to open extension talks with either Noah Syndergaard or Jacob deGrom, per Heyman. It seems the same holds true of Matt Harvey, who is further ahead in service time, with a source telling Heyman that the star righty is highly unlikely to be retained past his arb eligibility. It is a bit surprising to learn, though, that the team hasn’t at least looked into whether there might be a bargain to be had amongst the pre-arb righties — deGrom in particular, since he is somewhat older and might be more willing to settle for a team-friendly rate.
  • The Yankees, meanwhile, won’t sell in the near-term, but will reconsider in the run-up to the trade period. That’s not surprising to hear; the team is, after all, still treading water in the division.
  • While the Blue Jays don’t have any inclination to part with John Gibbons at present, Heyman suggests it’s unlikely he’ll be retained past the present season. A “huge year” could change that, though.
  • The Nationals dabbled with the idea of upgrading over Wilson Ramos over the winter, but decided against it — or, at least didn’t find a deal to their liking. That’s turned out to be wise in retrospect, as the big Venezuelan is off to a notable start at the plate: .345/.392/.554 with eight home runs and just 21 walks against 13 strikeouts over 181 plate appearances. The pending free agent remains an interesting player to watch the rest of the way.

Blue Jays Designate Matt Dominguez Off Active Roster

By | at

TODAY: Dominguez has cleared waivers and been optioned, so he’ll stay with Toronto, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link).

YESTERDAY, 2:34pm: Dominguez is only being designated off of the active roster so he can pass through optional assignment waivers, Nicholson-Smith clarifies on Twitter. That procedural step was required because he is three or more years removed from his major league debut. It’s a revocable waiver placement that is generally considered a formality, so Toronto does not appear at risk of losing Dominguez.

1:39pm: The Blue Jays have designated third baseman Matt Dominguez for assignment, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca tweets. His roster spot will go to switch-pitching reliever Pat Venditte.

Dominguez has seen only five games of action for Toronto in two brief stints, recording no hits in 12 plate appearances on the year. He does own a useful-enough .287/.333/.419 slash over 183 plate appearances at the Triple-A level, but clearly he was on the fringes of the Jays’ plans.

It’s not clear whether the 26-year-old will ever get another full crack at regular major league action, but he’s young and skilled enough for it to remain a possibility. Dominguez has a twenty home run MLB season under his belt and is capable of playing both corner infield spots.

AL East Notes: Yankees, Sanchez, Sox, Kim

By | at

There’s been plenty of ink dedicated to the idea of the Yankees parting with one of their left-handed bullpen aces, Aroldis Chapman or Andrew Miller, but the club’s top execs aren’t planning on trading anyone in the near future, reports Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. Heyman cites “senior Yankees executives” in conveying that the team’s top decision-makers held a conference call last night and determined that there won’t be any action in the near term, though the club could reevaluate that line of thinking closer to the end of July. Many have speculated that the Yankees, in need of rotation depth as well as some help at the infield corners, could deal Chapman or Miller to add a younger big league piece elsewhere on the roster. Carlos Beltran’s name also crept up in speculation last month, but it would appear that the Yankees, currently 26-30 and 6.5 games back in the division, will stay the course for the time being.

Here’s more from the AL East…

  • Aaron Sanchez’s breakout season will leave the Blue Jays with some tough decisions in a couple of months, writes Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet. The Jays clearly made the right call by entrusting Sanchez with a spot in the rotation this spring, Nicholson-Smith points out, but the team also said back in March that he’d eventually transition to the bullpen later this season as a means of managing his innings total. Sanchez has been dominant in 2016, posting a 2.99 ERA with 8.0 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 and a lofty 58.5 percent ground-ball rate across 72 1/3 innings. Pitching coach Pete Walker tells Nicholson-Smith that the Jays typically map out their plans for the pitching staff a month in advance, so he’s taking the Sanchez debate on a month-to-month basis. The 23-year-old Sanchez totaled just 102 innings between the Majors and minors last season, so it’s understandable that Toronto isn’t thrilled with the notion of seeing one of its most valuable long-term pieces double his 2015 innings total with a full season of starts.
  • The struggles of Eduardo Rodriguez in yesterday’s loss underscores the Red Sox’ need to trade for rotation help, opines Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald. Silverman notes that the club has watched Rick Porcello slow down considerably since an explosive start to the season, while David Price has yet to hit the stride that most expect of the former Cy Young winner. Beyond that, Clay Buchholz and Joe Kelly have pitched themselves out of rotation jobs. Steven Wright has been a pleasant surprise, but his breakout alone won’t sustain a four-man rotation that already needs a fifth option. Boston has already seen one trade option come off the market, as the White Sox picked up James Shields from the Padres with a rare early-June trade of fairly significant magnitude.
  • Hyun Soo Kim’s turnaround since Spring Training has been remarkable, writes Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com, who spoke to a scout from outside the Orioles organization that said he’s had to tear up the March scouting report he’d compiled on Kim. Baltimore signed Kim to a two-year, $7MM contract this winter on the heels of an impressive run in the Korea Baseball Organization, but the man nicknamed the “Hitting Machine” in Korea looked overmatched (or “scared,” as the scout put it to Kubatko) at the plate in Spring Training. To say Kim, who is hitting .377/.449/.493 through an admittedly small sample of 78 plate appearances, has adjusted nicely would appear to be an understatement. Manager Buck Showalter praised Kim for his adjustments to harder velocity and said he routinely checks in with Kim and his interpreter to see if there’s anything the club can do to continue to ease the transition from Korea to America. Kim, however, tells Showalter that he’s “having the time of his life” now that he is getting a chance to contribute in the Majors.

Cafardo’s Latest: RPs, Bautista, Teheran, Shields, Ausmus

By | at

This summer’s trade market will favor relief pitchers, not starters, writes Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. While the pool of starters who are expected to be available looks shallow and largely unappealing, the opposite is true in regards to bullpen options. Cafardo points to Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller, Arodys Vizcaino, Jeremy Jeffress, Jeanmar Gomez, Sean Doolittle and Will Smith, among many others, as relievers who could be on the move in the next couple months.

Here’s more from Cafardo:

  • The 30-27 Blue Jays are in the thick of the playoff race, but if they fall out of it, right fielder Jose Bautista and first baseman/designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion (both pending free agents) are prime trade candidates. The Cardinals, Cubs and Hunter Pence-less Giants would all have interest in Bautista, according to Cafardo.
  • The Red Sox and Braves would match up well in a potential trade involving right-hander Julio Teheran, per Cafardo, who notes that Boston’s package would have to be headlined by outfield prospect Andrew Benintendi, infield prospect Yoan Moncada, third baseman Travis Shaw or catcher/left fielder Blake Swihart. Of that group, the Red Sox would prefer to give up Swihart, though Cafardo doubts he alone would be enough of a return for Teheran.
  • Before the Padres traded righty James Shields to the White Sox on Saturday, the Red Sox, Orioles, Tigers and Dodgers expressed interest in acquiring the 34-year-old. Shields’ final start with the Padres – in which he allowed 10 earned runs, eight hits and four walks in 2 2/3 innings on Tuesday – served as a deterrent to some clubs, though, reports Cafardo.
  • The 27-28 Tigers aren’t considering replacing third-year manager Brad Ausmus as of now, relays Cafardo. However, given that he’s in a contract year, Ausmus could be managing for his job.

Phillies Acquire Jimmy Paredes

By | at

The Phillies have acquired utilityman Jimmy Paredes from the Blue Jays, Philadelphia announced. Toronto will receive cash considerations in return for Paredes, who had been designated for assignment recently by the Jays.

The 27-year-old Paredes is capable of playing second, third, and the corner outfield. Plus, he swings from both sides of the plate, making him a flexible addition for a Phillies club that’s struggled to score runs. Clearly, the Phillies are intrigued by Paredes, as the club reportedly placed a waiver claim on him after he was designated for assignment and waived by the Orioles. However, the Blue Jays had waiver priority over the Phils at that point. This time around, the Phillies circumvented the waiver process by simply acquiring him in a trade.

Paredes certainly could help in the offensive department if he can keep up or improve upon his recent results. Since the start of 2014, he owns a roughly league-average .277/.311/.424 batting line with 13 home run and eight steals over 466 plate appearances.

Of course, Paredes isn’t very highly regarded with the glove, and he’s generally been much more successful against right-handed pitching. That limits his function for Philadelphia, but it’s not hard to see how he could be deployed to add some punch to a lineup that has received sub-par production from second base (Cesar Hernandez) and the corner outfield (Peter Bourjos, Tyler Goeddel, David Lough).

AL East Notes: Bautista, Pineda, Grilli, Boxberger

By | at

Jose Bautista’s future with the Blue Jays has been up in the air since Spring Training, when reports of an asking price north of $150MM emerged, but the right fielder tells Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci that his preference is to remain in Toronto. “I love the city. I’d be stupid to leave,” said Bautista. While that comment will garner plenty of attention, it’s hardly uncommon for stars to voice a preference to remain with the club with which they’ve broken out. Bautista implied that the ball is in the court of first-year president of baseball operations Mark Shapiro and first-year GM Ross Atkins. “I will explore every single option, whether it happens or not with the new regime, to continue to try to stay here,” he added. “That being said, I think teams utilize that a lot against players, [seeking] a discount or bargain price, and I think that’s extremely unfair, especially to have your biggest contributors on the field and try to take advantage of the fact that they like it there and negotiate a tougher deal.” Despite today’s comments, it seems difficult to envision Bautista significantly dropping his asking price — especially when he’s again on pace to top 30 homers.

More from the AL East…

  • Joel Sherman of the New York Post points out that if the Yankees want to option right-hander Michael Pineda to the minors in an effort to get the struggling 26-year-old back on track, their window to do so is closing. Pineda, Sherman notes, will reach five full years of MLB service time on June 14, at which point he will have earned the right to refuse a minor league assignment. Cashman tells Sherman that Pineda will make his next start on Thursday (in Detroit), and the club will have further discussions about him following that outing. Pitching coach Larry Rothschild cryptically tells Sherman that he’s aware of what Pineda’s problem is but is electing not to disclose the issue to the media.
  • Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins spoke to reporters tonight about his club’s acquisition of Jason Grilli (video link via Sportsnet.ca). Atkins said that he’s been on the lookout for bullpen help since the day he arrived in Toronto, and Grilli’s penchant for missing bats made him an attractive option. “There’s a lot that we like about Jason and how he complements this team,” said Atkins. “The first thing that comes to mind is experience. He’s been on winning teams, [in] very high-leverage situations and gets a ton of swing-and-miss — has gotten a lot of swing-and-miss throughout his career.” Atkins expected Grilli to join the club on Wednesday.
  • As Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets, Rays right-hander Brad Boxberger left tonight’s game with a strained muscle in his left side. Following the game, manager Kevin Cash told the media that the injury was “obviously not good,” and Topkin tweets that the sense in the clubhouse is that Boxberger is headed back to the disabled list. Further evaluation will be required tomorrow, he notes, but another absence for the Rays’ presumed 2016 closer appears to be a strong possibility.

Blue Jays Acquire Jason Grilli

By | at

5:47pm: The Blue Jays and Braves have both announced the trade.

4:02pm: The Blue Jays and Braves have agreed to a deal that will send right-hander Jason Grilli from Atlanta to Toronto in exchange for right-hander Sean Ratcliffe, reports Baseball Essential’s Robert Murray (links to Murray on Twitter). Additionally, he tweets that the Jays will pay Grilli the pro-rated portion of the league minimum for the remainder of the season, with the Braves paying the rest of his salary. Grilli has a base salary of $3.5MM, meaning Atlanta will still pay him $2.37MM, while the Jays are now on the hook for $344K plus a $250K buyout on his $3MM club option for the 2017 season.

Jason Grilli

Grilli, 39, is off to a rough start to his 2016 campaign but gives Toronto an experienced arm to add to the back of its bullpen. In 17 innings this year, he’s posted a 5.29 ERA with 23 strikeouts against 13 walks (one intentional). That control (or lack thereof) has been Grilli’s primary undoing, but he enjoyed plenty of success in the Atlanta bullpen as recently as last year, when he logged a 2.94 ERA and 24 saves in 33 2/3 innings before an Achilles injury prematurely ended his season. Grilli’s club option for the 2017 season is for $3MM, so if he’s able to right the ship with the Jays as he nears his 40th birthday, he’ll be an affordable piece for next season.

While he’s struggled for much of the 2016 season, Grilli worked to a strong 3.07 ERA with 11.9 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 and 72 saves from 2011-15 with the Pirates, Angels and Braves, so there’s some reason to believe that he could rebound with a change of scenery. Then again, his velocity is down more than two miles per hour from last season, and his ground-ball rate is at an all-time-low 18.9 percent this year — a bad trend to exhibit for any player, let alone one that is moving to the homer-friendly Rogers Centre in Toronto. The prospect price, though, isn’t exactly steep in this deal, and the Jays are taking on a just a small portion of Grilli’s salary, so the risk they’re assuming is rather minimal.

The 21-year-old Ratcliffe has yet to climb higher than Low-A ball in his career. Toronto selected him in the 18th round of the 2013 draft, and he’s posted a 4.91 ERA with 6.5 K/9 against 5.3 BB/9 in 62 1/3 professional innings. Baseball America’s Vince Lara-Cinisomo writes that Ratcliffe has a fastball that will touch 93 mph and a “decent” slider with plenty of room for projection as a converted catcher with a 6’4″, 200-pound frame.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Show all

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

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top