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Mets Sign Matt Kemp

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6:07pm: The deal has been announced. Kemp is headed to the club’s spring facility at Port St. Lucie.

4:16pm: The Mets have agreed to a minors pact with veteran outfielder Matt Kemp, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (Twitter link). Terms of the deal aren’t known; it’s pending a physical. Kemp opened the season with the Reds but was released recently.

It’s rather surprising to see the 34-year-old land in New York, though a spate of injuries has challenged the organization’s depth situation. Veterans Carlos Gomez and Rajai Davis had been camped at Triple-A to begin the year but were brought up to the majors to help fill in.

Kemp got off to a brutal start in Cincinnati, slashing just .200/.210/.283 with one home run (and just a single walk) in 62 plate appearances. He’s not much of a defender at this point of his career, so he needs to hit a fair bit to be a useful roster piece.

There’s certainly an argument to be made that Kemp would fit best on an American League team. For the Mets, though, this move is mostly about filling in the upper-minors outfield mix. It is still possible they’ll end up finding cause to bring Kemp up. Though he’s obviously no longer the star he was earlier in his career, Kemp did turn in a strong .290/.338/.481 slash in 506 plate appearances last year.

Twins Designate Austin Adams, Recall Zack Littell

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The Twins announced today that they have designated right-hander Austin Adams for assignment. His roster spot will go to fellow righty Zack Littell, who was recalled.

Adams, 32, only got into a pair of games for the Twins. Unfortunately, he was knocked around yesterday. Beyond the difficult outing, the fact that Adams threw 43 pitches likely sealed his fate.

The 23-year-old Littell makes his way up for the first time this year after getting a few looks in 2018. He carries a 4.19 ERA with 9.4 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 43 Triple-A innings.

Marlins Designate Isaac Galloway For Assignment

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The Marlins announced today that outfielder Isaac Galloway has been designate for assignment. That creates 40-man space for the addition of Bryan Holaday, who is coming onto the roster as Chad Wallach hits the injured list with a concussion.

Galloway, 29, is a career-long Marlin who finally got his first chance at the majors last year. He performed well enough, but still ended up being bumped from the 40-man just before the start of camp. When he was brought back up to the majors earlier this year, things didn’t go quite so well.

In 54 plate appearances in the majors in 2019, Galloway carries an ugly .167/.167/.185 slash without a single walk. He has also drawn just two free passes while racking up 31 strikeouts in 70 plate appearances at Triple-A, though he has delivered strong power output (five home runs, .515 SLG) at the highest level of the minors.

Mariners Release Tyler Danish

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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.

Marlins To Select Bryan Holaday

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2:08pm: Mish tweets that Wallach has been diagnosed with a concussion, which prompted Holaday’s return to the club. A 40-man roster move will still need to be made.

2:01pm: The Marlins will select the contract of veteran catcher Bryan Holaday prior to this weekend’s series against the Nationals, Craig Mish of SiriusXM reports (via Twitter). Miami has a full 40-man roster and will thus need to make a corresponding move.

There’s no known injury issue with either Jorge Alfaro or Chad Wallach at the moment, and Alfaro has already been listed in today’s lineup for the Marlins. Wallach has been reasonably productive in a limited sample, so it seems unlikely that he’d be optioned out in favor of a veteran like Holaday. In all likelihood, an injury or perhaps a trip to the bereavement list could be the reasoning behind the move, but the Miami organization has yet to make a formal announcement.

Holaday, 31, is no stranger to the Marlins organization, having appeared in 61 games for the Fish last season. He hit just .205/.261/.258 through 166 plate appearances in his time as a Marlin but has had a better showing so far in Triple-A: .247/.385/.387 with more walks (17) than strikeouts (12) in 118 plate appearances. Holaday has never been much of a threat at the plate, evidenced by a lifetime .234/.274/.320 slash in the Majors, but he’s a veteran of seven MLB campaigns who has a career 32 percent caught-stealing rate.

Blue Jays Designate Ryan Feierabend For Assignment

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The Blue Jays announced Friday that they’ve designated lefty Ryan Feierabend for assignment and optioned both Billy McKinney and Richard Urena to Triple-A Buffalo. Those moves pave the way for the previously reported promotion of prospect Cavan Biggio, the addition of Zac Rosscup (claimed yesterday from the Mariners) to the active roster and the return of Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Toronto also placed righty Elvis Luciano on the bereavement list and recalled lefty Thomas Pannone in his place.

It was a brief return to the Majors for Feierabend, who is looking to resurrect his big league career as knuckleballer. The two games in which he appeared were his first in the Majors since he made six appearances for the Rangers in 2014. Prior to that, he’d been out of the big leagues since 2008.

The 33-year-old Feierabend enjoyed a four-year run in the Korea Baseball Organization in that 2014-18 gap between MLB stints. If he passes through waivers, he could very well return to the Jays’ Triple-A club and work toward another look. He began throwing a knuckler while pitching overseas and was reasonably sharp in 16 2/3 innings with Buffalo before being promoted earlier this week (2.70 ERA, 13 strikeouts, six walks).

Blue Jays Promote Cavan Biggio

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May 24: The Blue Jays have made Biggio’s promotion official.

May 23: The Blue Jays will promote infield/corner outfield prospect Cavan Biggio, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca was among those to report on Twitter. He’ll be joined in the majors by Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

Cavan Biggio

With a need for two roster spots, the Toronto organization will send down two players. Outfielder Billy McKinney and infielder Richard Urena will be optioned out.

It’s fun to see Biggio and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. share a MLB roster. They’ll likely be joined before too long by fellow top prospect Bo Bichette, at which time the Jays will be in position to compile a fearsome father-son softball team. (For the record, Cavan’s dad out-WAR’ed Vlad’s dad. Both are recent Hall of Fame inductees.)

If that trio can do anything to the 2020’s like their dads did to the 1990’s and 2000’s, it’ll make for heady times in Toronto. For now, the focus is on finishing off the development of these talented youngsters.

Biggio is the least hyped of the group, though he has already exceeded the expectations placed on him as a fifth-round draft pick. Entering the present season, he graded out as one of the ten or so best prospects in the Blue Jays system, but wasn’t considered an elite youngster on a leaguewide scale.

Notably, however, the 24-year-old has increased his offensive output at each step up the minor-league ladder. Through 168 plate appearances at Triple-A, he owns a robust .306/.440/.507 batting line with six home runs.

Having put the ball over the fence 26 times last year at Double-A, Biggio obviously possessed more power than might have been expected. He’s now combining that with the plate discipline that had long been his calling card — and doing so at the highest level of the minors. Biggio has ramped his walk rate all the way up to 19.0% while dropping his strikeout rate to 16.7% thus far in 2019.

Though he has primarily appeared at second base in the minors, Biggio also has experience at third, first, and the corner outfield. He and Gurriel could both appear at multiple positions in the big leagues. The latter was introduced to the outfield (where he has some prior experience in Cuba) after being optioned down due to his struggles at the plate and some yips that arose at second base.

Padres Promote Josh Naylor

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May 24: The Padres announced that Naylor’s contract has been selected from Triple-A El Paso. Outfielder Alex Dickerson has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a sprained right wrist, thus opening a 25-man roster spot, while lefty Aaron Loup’s transfer from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL opens a spot on the 40-man roster.

May 23: The Padres are planning to promote outfield prospect Josh Naylor, according to Dennis Lin of The Athletic (via Twitter). Corresponding roster moves aren’t yet known.

This decision adds to the interest in tomorrow’s matchup in Toronto, which will already feature just-promoted Blue Jays prospect Cavan Biggio. As Lin notes, Naylor is a Toronto-area native, hailing from neighboring Mississauga. Still another Ontarian, Cal Quantrill, will start Saturday’s game for the Friars.

Naylor was taken with the 12th overall pick of the 2015 draft by the Marlins. He ended up being shipped to San Diego in the partially undone 2016 trade — a transaction that came close on the heels of another swap in which the Friars picked the pocket of the Miami organization.

Primarily a first baseman to begin his professional career, Naylor has been shifted to a corner outfield role more recently in a bid to find a home for his bat. He’s still learning his way around the outfield grass, but has continued to ramp up his productivity at the plate while moving into the upper ranks of the Friars farm.

Naylor received at least one top-100 leaguewide prospect grade entering the present season, with Baseball America slotting him in at #99, and he has certainly boosted his stock since. So far this year, Naylor carries a .299/.378/.538 batting line through 209 plate appearances at Triple-A. He has swatted ten home runs and walked as many times as he has struck out (24 apiece), making for a nicely balanced offensive profile.

Bringing Naylor up is going to require both 40-man and active roster space. It’s fair to wonder whether the time is up for Alex Dickerson, who returned this year from a lengthy run of poor injury luck. He devastated Triple-A pitching but has managed just three singles while going down seven times on strikes in his 19 MLB plate appearances.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Mets Sign Ervin Santana

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The Mets announced Friday that they’ve agreed to terms with right-hander Ervin Santana on a minor league contract. The deal is still pending a physical. Assuming he passes that test, he’d head to Port St. Lucie to begin building his arm strength back up.

Santana, 36, missed nearly all of the 2018 season after undergoing surgery to repair a tendon in his right middle finger just prior to Spring Training, and the Twins declined a $14MM option on him last November. He signed a minor league pact with the White Sox this offseason but was released after just three unsuccessful starts with the team.

Despite the poor showing in 2018-19, Santana was a consistently and perhaps quietly effective mainstay in the Twins’ rotation in the preceding three seasons. From 2015-17, he pitched to a 3.47 ERA with 7.2 K/9 against 2.7 BB/9 and even was named to the American League All-Star team in 2017. That year, he racked up 211 1/3 innings, tossed five complete games (three shutouts) and finished out the season with a strong 3.28 earned run average.

The Mets’ rotation hasn’t performed as well as hoped in 2019, and while no one would reasonably expect Santana to return to his 2017 levels, he could eventually push Jason Vargas for the fifth spot in the rotation. He’s gone more than a month without pitching since being cut loose by the ChiSox, so he’ll need some time to build up, though. If nothing else, he’ll eventually serve as a depth option in the event of an injury at the big league level. New York has been using Wilmer Font in that role but has received just 10 1/3 innings of 7.84 ERA ball in three starts since trading a low-level minor leaguer for him.

Neil Ramirez Accepts Outright Assignment With Indians

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Reliever Neil Ramirez will remain in the Indians organization after he cleared outright waivers but accepted an assignment to Triple-A. The club announced the move.

Ramirez avoided arbitration with the Indians over the offseason, striking a $1MM deal. That contract helps explain why he would agree to stick around rather than heading out in search of a better opportunity. With more than three but less than five years of service, he can choose free agency but would have to give up the remaining guarantee to do so.

Of course, it’s also true that the Cleveland organization helped Ramirez revive what had been a moribund career. He had bounced around quite a bit before settling in with the Indians and throwing 41 2/3 innings of 4.54 ERA ball last year.

Ramirez, who turns 30 on Saturday, struggled out of the gates in 2019. His home run issues from a year ago deepened, as he allowed five in 16 2/3 innings. He’s still producing a healthy 14.3% swinging-strike rate and working in the mid-nineties with his fastball, but clearly needs to tune things up if he’s to get back to being a productive MLB reliever.

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