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Minor MLB Transactions: 4/21/18

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The latest minor moves from around baseball:

  • Outfielder Ryan Kalish has retired, Peter Gammons tweets. Kalish, who played the final game of his career on Friday with New Britain of the independent Atlantic League, is stepping away because of knee issues, per Gammons. Now 30, Kalish was once a promising prospect with the Red Sox, who grabbed him in the ninth round of the 2006 draft. Injuries were problematic throughout Kalish’s career, though, which helps to explain why he only amassed 422 major league plate appearances between the BoSox and Cubs. Kalish was a .245/.297/.349 hitter with four homers and 16 stolen bases in the majors.
  • The Indians have acquired utility player Jon Berti from the Blue Jays for cash considerations, according to announcements from both teams. Berti will join Triple-A Columbus with Cleveland, which will be his second organization since Toronto chose him in the 18th round of the 2011 draft. The 28-year-old Berti ascended to Triple-A in 2015 and has since hit .212/.282/.314 in 433 PAs at the minors’ highest level.
  • The Rays outrighted outfielder Brandon Snyder to Triple-A Durham after he cleared waivers, the team announced. Snyder, whom the Rays designated Friday, could decline the assignment because he has been outrighted in the past. He totaled six PAs with the Rays before they cut him from their 40-man roster, giving him 211 since he debuted with Baltimore in 2011. Snyder has batted .240/.276/.455 with nine long balls in the bigs.

Yankees To Promote Gleyber Torres

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The Yankees are set to promote their best prospect, infielder Gleyber Torres, Jack Curry of the YES Network reports. Torres will join the Yankees for their game against the Blue Jays on Sunday. He’s already on the Yankees’ 40-man roster, so they won’t need to jettison anyone in order to make room for him.

The 21-year-old Torres is in his second full season with the Yankees, who acquired him in a deal with the Cubs centering on closer Aroldis Chapman in July 2016. It’s fair to say the trade has worked out for both teams, given that Chapman helped pitch the Cubs to a World Series that year and then returned to the Yankees as a free agent in the ensuing offseason, and Torres has turned into an elite prospect.

MLB.com is among many outlets with a high opinion of Torres, ranking him as the game’s No. 5 prospect while lauding his offensive and defensive potential. The right-handed-hitting Torres has shown plenty of upside with the bat since his promotion to Triple-A in 2017, having slashed .331/.409/.488 in 149 plate appearances at the minors’ highest level. Torres’ season was cut short in 2017 on account of a left elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery, but he returned this year to post a .370/.415/.543 line in 53 PAs prior to his promotion to New York.

Originally a shortstop, Torres also brings minor league experience at second and third base. He’s unlikely to make an impact at short for the Yankees, who have breakout star Didi Gregorius there, but could play either of the other two positions. Of course, fellow highly touted prospect Miguel Andujar has impressed lately at third, where he has been filling in for the injured Brandon Drury (on the DL since April 7 with migraines). On the other hand, New York hasn’t gotten much production at second from accomplished veteran Neil Walker or youngster Tyler Wade, so Torres could be a factor there for a 10-9 club that’s lagging well behind the incredibly hot Red Sox (17-2) in the AL East early in the season.

Regardless of where Torres primarily lines up, or if this just proves to be a cup of coffee until Drury returns, the Yankees will be able to control him through the 2024 campaign.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Angels Designate Luke Bard

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The Angels have designated right-hander Luke Bard for assignment, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times tweets. Bard’s roster spot will go to fellow righty Eduardo Paredes, whom the team recalled from Triple-A, per Maria Guardado of MLB.com.

The 27-year-old Bard joined the Angels last December as a Rule 5 pick from the Twins, who will have a chance to get Bard back for $50K if he goes through waivers unclaimed. If a team does claim Bard, it’ll need to keep him on its 25-man roster or risk losing him to waivers.

Bard, whom Minnesota chose in the first round of the 2012 draft, brings both an impressive minor league track record and an intriguing fastball to the table. He hasn’t yet pitched at the Triple-A level, though he carries a 3.09 ERA with 12.1 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9 in 67 Double-A innings. Bard wasn’t able to replicate that success with the Angels early this season, though, as he pitched to a 5.40 ERA despite solid strikeout and walk rates (10.03 K/9, 3.86 BB/9) across 11 2/3 frames.

Rangers Release Steve Delabar

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The Rangers have released right-hander Steve Delabar from his minor-league contract, per a club announcement. In a corresponding move, the team’s top affiliate has added recently signed righty Yovani Gallardo to its active roster.

Delabar, 34, has not pitched much in recent seasons. He didn’t last long with the Reds in 2016 and only turned in a short stint later that season with Japan’s Hiroshima Carp. Then, he sat out all of 2017 following a PED suspension.

The Rangers gave Delabar another shot in hopes that he might boost the bullpen depth, but obviously were not that optimistic. He had issued five walks in his 5 2/3 innings thus far at Round Rock after handing out ten free passes in nine spring frames.

Nationals Designate A.J. Cole, Select Carlos Torres

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The Nationals have designated righty A.J. Cole for assignment, per a club announcement. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by veteran reliever Carlos Torres, whose contract was selected.

It has long been evident that this was a make-or-break season for Cole, who the organization long felt would be a major-league contributor. He was given a shot at a rotation spot out of camp but lasted only two starts and two relief appearances before the team was forced to make a move.

Cole’s once bright star had already ebbed over recent seasons, as he continued to spend more of his time at Triple-A than in the majors. He reached the highest level of the minors in 2014 and cracked the bigs in the following campaign, but has thrown only 110 total MLB frames.

A major factor in Cole’s lack of chances was the fact that the competing Nationals couldn’t simply give him innings without concern for how they went. Perhaps the leash would’ve been longer this year, though, were it not for the fact that the Nats have endured a tepid opening few weeks that have left them looking up at three teams.

With a need for fresh relievers, there just wasn’t more time to let Cole work through his early struggles. Make no mistake, they were pronounced. He paces the N.L. with a whopping six home runs allowed in just 10 1/3 innings and has coughed up 15 earned runs.

Torres, meanwhile, is a sturdy veteran pen arm who is capable of pitching multiple innings. The 35-year-old, who joined the Nats organization on a minors deal just before the start of the season, has thrown more than fifty MLB innings in every season since the 2012 campaign and has a 3.73 ERA in 449 total innings in that span. He has thrown five scoreless and hitless innings at Triple-A thus far in 2018.

Rays Designate Brandon Snyder For Assignment

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The Rays have designated infielder Brandon Snyder for assignment in order to open a spot on the roster for fellow infielder Brad Miller, who is returning from the disabled list (Twitter link via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times).

Snyder, 28, went 1-for-6 with a double in a pair of games for Tampa Bay after having his contract selected earlier this week. That marked the 31-year-old’s first action at the Major League level since 2016, when he made 47 plate appearances for the rebuilding Braves. The former Orioles prospect was the 13th overall pick back in the 2005 draft but has yet to tally even 70 plate appearances in a single big league season. He’s a career .242/.279/.459 hitter with nine homers in just 205 big league plate appearances and a .259/.326/.426 hitter in 2353 Triple-A plate appearances.

As for Miller, he’ll return after spending nearly two weeks on the shelf with a groin strain. The 28-year-old enjoyed a 30-homer campaign back in 2016 but followed that power surge with the worst offensive campaign of his career. He’s off to a .222/.300/.370 start through 30 plate appearances as he looks to rebound from last year’s down season.

Diamondbacks Agree To Minor League Deal With Brian Ellington

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The D-backs are in agreement on a minor league contract with right-hander Brian Ellington, reports Zach Buchanan of The Athletic (Twitter link). The MVP Sports client was released by the Marlins earlier this month. Buchanan notes that he’s working his way back from a biceps injury and, as such, as not yet been assigned to a minor league affiliate with the Snakes.

Ellington, 27, is one of the hardest-throwing relievers in baseball, having averaged a blistering 98.1 mph on his heater in 77 2/3 innings from 2016-17 with Miami. Control has been a longstanding issue for the former 16th-round pick, however, as he’s walked 64 batters, hit 10 more and uncorked eight wild pitches in 102 2/3 innings at the big league level.

Early in his career, Ellington’s strikeout rate didn’t match up with what one might expect from a pitcher with that type of velocity, though his ability to miss bats has trended upward over the past couple of seasons. Last year, he averaged 9.7 K/9 in 44 2/3 innings to go along with a hearty 12.6 percent swinging-strike rate, but he also averaged 7.1 walks per nine innings pitched.

About three quarters of Ellington’s offerings are fastballs, with only occasional deviations from the heater for a curveball and an even more seldom-used changeup. Last year’s uptick in strikeouts was accompanied by a massive spike in walk rate and a significant dip in his chase rate, but if Ellington (once healthy) can cut his walks back to 2016 levels (4.4 BB/9) and maintain any of the gains he made in terms of missed bats, he’d seemingly be a nice bullpen piece. That’s easier said than done, of course, and the immediate focus for both team and player will be more on his health than anything else.

Blue Jays Promote Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

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11:06am: The Blue Jays have now formally announced the series of roster moves.

9:35am: The Blue Jays are set to recall infielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. from Double-A New Hampshire, according to Shi Davidi and Hazel Mae of Sportsnet. The younger brother of Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel, Lourdes will be making his Major League debut upon arriving. The Jays will option fellow infielder Gift Ngoepe and lefty Tim Mayza to Triple-A in order to open roster spots for Gurriel and the returning Kendrys Morales, per the report. That also means that surging young outfielder Teoscar Hernandez will stick with the big league club.

Gurriel, 24, was signed by the Blue Jays shortly after his 23rd birthday. Under the previous iteration of the collective bargaining agreement, his age and five-plus years of professional experience in the Cuban National Series qualified him to sign a Major League contract, which he did — a seven-year, $22MM pact. (Under the current CBA, he’d still be considered an amateur, as the the age criteria was bumped up to 25.)

While his first season in the Blue Jays organization didn’t go well (.229/.268/.339 between Class-A Advanced and Double-A), the younger Gurriel played much better in the Arizona Fall League last year. In 2018, he’s exploded out of the gates with a .347/.382/.510 slash in his first 55 Double-A plate appearances. Baseball America rated him as the game’s No. 73 prospect prior to the 2017 season, and while his poor showing last year knocked him off their rankings, he’s gotten himself back on track to open the year, it seems. Gurriel played all over the diamond in Cuba, but he’s been exclusively a second baseman and shortstop thus far in the Blue Jays organization, splitting his time evenly between the two spots.

As for Hernandez, while the move to recall him initially may have been looked at as a short-term option, he’s announced his presence in the Toronto lineup by hitting .375/.400/.708 with a homer, three doubles and a triple through five games and 25 plate appearances. It’s a small sample, to be sure, but Hernandez demonstrated huge power potential with eight home runs in a September call-up last season, and he’s among the leaders in barreled balls since that time, per Statcast. No hitter who has put at least 10 balls into play thus far in 2018 has averaged better than Hernandez’s 99.3 mph exit velocity.

White Sox Acquire Trayce Thompson

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The White Sox have announced the acquisition of outfielder Trayce Thompson from the Athletics. Cash or a player to be named later will head in return.

This move explains the team’s other just-announced transaction, as Thompson will require a 40-man spot. It’s the third time Thompson has changed uniforms since the start of April. He entered the month in DFA limbo after being dropped from the Dodgers’ 40-man and then moved to the Yankees and on to the A’s.

The result is that the 27-year-old will land back where things began for him back in 2009, when the Sox chose him in the second round of the amateur draft. He first reached the majors with the Chicago organization back in 2015 and since then has compiled a cumulative .232/.307/.440 batting line in 459 total plate appearances.

Brewers Acquire Tyler Saladino, Designate Alec Asher

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The Brewers have acquired infielder Tyler Saladino from the White Sox, per a club announcement. Cash will go to Chicago in the swap.

Milwaukee has designated recently acquired righty Alec Asher for assignment to create roster space. He’ll either continue his tour of the league via waiver wire or end up finally clearing and being outrighted. To this point in the season, Asher has already been placed on waivers by both the Orioles and Dodgers, though he’s obviously yet to clear.

Saladino, 28, has been a heavily used reserve on the South Side since the start of the 2015 season. He has had his moments, particularly during a solid 2016 campaign, but in the aggregate has only managed a .231/.281/.330 slash in 863 total plate appearances. Of course, he’s valued more for his versatile fielding ability and will provide the Brewers organization with some depth in that regard. Saladino has played all over the infield in addition to cameos at all three outfield spots. Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating are particularly bullish on his work at second base and third base, though he’s no stranger to shortstop, either, having logged 429 big league innings there.

[Related: Updated Brewers depth chart and White Sox depth chart]

Saladino entered the season with two years, 87 days of Major League service time, meaning he’ll likely be arbitration eligible if he spends any meaningful amount of time on the Brewers’ Major League roster. He does have two minor league option seasons remaining (including 2018), though, so it’s possible that he still falls shy.

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