Minor MLB Transactions: 8/27/21
The latest minor moves from around baseball…
- The Minnesota Twins signed right-hander Vinny Nittoli to a minors deal and assigned him to Triple-A St. Paul, per Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com (via Twitter). Nittoli, 30, made his Major League debut earlier this season with the Mariners. He threw one inning, allowing a pair of runs on a pair of walks and a home run. He had a 5.61 ERA in Triple-A over 33 2/3 innings.
- Bo Takahashi has been released from his contract to sign with the Kia Tigers in Korea, per his former club the Louisville Bats. The Bats, of course, are the Triple-A affiliate of the Reds. Takahashi had a 4.45 ERA in 89 innings while serving as a regular starter in Louisville.
Tigers Preparing To Return Jose Urena, Matthew Boyd To Rotation
The Tigers have designated Ian Krol for assignment in order to make room for Jose Urena, who will come off the injured list tomorrow, per Evan Woodbery of MLive Media Group (via Twitter).
In 12 appearances, Krol has a 5.11 ERA/3.82 FIP covering 12 1/3 innings. Urena has been out since July 17th with a groin strain. The veteran right-hander posted a mostly unimpressive 80 innings of 6.19 ERA baseball through 17 starts. Nevertheless, Urena is scheduled to reclaim his spot in the rotation tomorrow.
Matthew Boyd is also returning to the Tigers this weekend to start Sunday’s game. Another roster move will be required to bring him onto the roster. Boyd hasn’t pitched since June 15th, but he’s a big piece of their rotation moving into next season.
Angels Select Cooper Criswell, Recall Packy Naughton
The Angels made a number of roster moves before Friday night’s ballgame, including the selection of Cooper Criswell, who started the game for his Major League debut. Kean Wong was optioned to Triple-A to make room on the roster, per the team.
In addition, Packy Naughton was recalled from Triple-A, and James Hoyt was optioned to Triple-A. Naughton made his Major League debut earlier this season, tossing one inning against the Dodgers back on May 8th. He allowed one run on a hit and a walk. Naughton’s long-term future may still be in the rotation, even if the Angels use him out of the bullpen again.
The well-traveled Hoyt has made it into nine games the Halos, serving up 11 hits, seven walks, and 11 runs (10 earned) over just eight innings. Wong, 26, slashed .171/.190/.268 in 45 plate appearances.
Phillies Place Three Players On COVID-19 Injured List
The Phillies announced they’ve placed three players — right-hander Zach Eflin, utilityman Luke Williams and catcher Andrew Knapp — on the COVID-19 injured list. Righty Enyel de los Santos and catcher Rafael Marchán were recalled from Triple-A Lehigh Valley, while outfielder Jorge Bonifacio was selected back to the roster. The three players were all fully vaccinated but have apparently tested positive for the virus, relays Todd Zolecki of MLB.com (Twitter link).
Eflin just returned from the 10-day injured list yesterday after missing five weeks with patellar tenditis. He was scratched from last night’s scheduled start due to recurring trouble with his knee and will now miss some time due to viral issues. When healthy, Eflin is one of the Phils better starters, having pitched to a 4.17 ERA over 105 2/3 innings. Knapp and Williams, meanwhile, have gotten sporadic playing time in reserve capacities — Knapp as the #2 catcher, Williams in a multi-positional role.
Bonifacio returns to the big leagues just two days after being passed through outright waivers. The 28-year-old was called up last week and made two appearances before being designated for assignment. Because he was selected as a COVID replacement, Bonifacio won’t have to go on waivers this time around if he’s sent back down whenever the Phils are able to activate someone from the COVID IL.
Twins Activate Byron Buxton From Injured List, Select Ian Gibaut
5:12 pm: Minnesota also announced they’ve reinstated Byron Buxton from the injured list. He’s getting the start in center field for this evening’s game against the Brewers. It’s Buxton’s first action in over two months, as the star outfielder has been out since June 22 due to a fracture in his left hand. Catcher Mitch Garver is going on the 10-day IL with lower back tightness in a corresponding move.
It has been a frustrating season for Buxton, who also missed over a month earlier in the year with a right hip strain. When healthy, he’s been nothing short of brilliant. Across 110 plate appearances, the 27-year-old has a .369/.409/.767 slash with ten home runs.
3:27 pm: The Twins announced they’ve selected reliever Ian Gibaut to the big league roster and reinstated Jorge Alcalá from the 10-day injured list. In corresponding moves, Edgar García and Kyle Barraclough were optioned to Triple-A St. Paul. To open space for Gibaut on the 40-man roster, Minnesota transferred righty Luke Farrell from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list.
Gibaut was drafted by the Rays in 2015 and developed into a solid bullpen prospect after posting dominant numbers throughout his early minor league career. He reached the big leagues with Tampa Bay in July 2019 but was traded to the Rangers after a lone appearance. The right-hander spent parts of the next two seasons in Texas, working to a 5.84 ERA over 24 2/3 innings. Gibaut struck hitters out at a roughly league average rate (24.6%) but he issued far too many walks (14.9%) in that brief showing.
Minnesota claimed Gibaut off waivers over the offseason. They passed the 27-year-old through waivers in February and he’s spent the entire season with St. Paul. Gibaut has just a 7.20 ERA over 40 innings of relief with the Saints, but he’s posted passable strikeout (24.2%), walk (10.5%) and ground-ball (49.6%) numbers at the minors’ highest level. Gibaut’s results have been skewed by opponents’ .402 batting average on balls in play, and the Twins will give him a big league opportunity late in the season.
Farrell’s IL transfer is a procedural move. The righty has been on the IL for more than sixty days already, so his eligibility to return is unaffected. The 30-year-old began a rehab assignment with St. Paul over the weekend.
Diamondbacks Select Jake McCarthy
The Diamondbacks announced they’ve selected the contract of outfielder Jake McCarthy. No additional moves were necessary, as active and 40-man roster space became available when Arizona lost veteran infielder Asdrúbal Cabrera off waivers to the Reds this afternoon. (Conor Foley of the Scranton Times-Tribune reported the news before the official announcement).
Arizona selected McCarthy in the Competitive Balance Round (39th overall) in 2018 out of the University of Virginia. The left-handed hitter remains one of the more promising prospects in the organization, checking in 22nd in the system on Baseball America’s midseason update. BA writes that McCarthy has made recent swing alterations in an attempt to incorporate more power and remains athletic enough to cover center field.
McCarthy has split the 2021 campaign between Double-A Amarillo and Triple-A Reno. The 23-year-old hit .241/.333/.489 over 156 plate appearances in a pitcher-friendly Double-A setting before being bumped up to Reno, where he’s hit .262/.330/.508 in a far more favorable environment for hitters. The D-Backs would’ve had to add McCarthy onto the 40-man roster this offseason to keep him from selection in the Rule 5 draft. With any hope of competing this season long gone, they’ll make the move a little early and get a look at him against major league pitching over the season’s final five weeks.
Reds Claim Asdrubal Cabrera
1:45pm: The Reds and D-backs have officially announced the move.
12:44pm: The Reds have claimed veteran infielder Asdrubal Cabrera off waivers from the Diamondbacks, reports Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter link). The teams have yet to announce the move. Cincinnati already has multiple vacancies on its 40-man roster, so the Reds will only need to open a spot on the active 26-man roster.
Cabrera, 35, will give the Reds a switch-hitting infield option off the bench for the final month-plus of the regular season — and for the postseason, should they qualify. Because Cabrera is being claimed prior to Sept. 1, he’ll be eligible for postseason play with his new club.
It hasn’t been a great year at the plate for Cabrera, but he’s posted a respectable .244/.324/.392 batting line in 321 plate appearances while splitting his time between the infield corners (in addition to one lone inning at shortstop). He’s playing out the season on a one-year, $1.75MM contract and is owed about $358K of that sum through season’s end. The Reds will be on the hook for the remainder of that salary.
The veteran Cabrera looked like an obvious trade candidate prior to the deadline, but the D-backs apparently didn’t find much interest. They’ll clear a bit of cash now that he’s been claimed, although the primary motivation here could simply have been to give a veteran player a chance to join a playoff contender.
Cincinnati doesn’t have everyday at-bats available for Cabrera — not with Joey Votto at first base, Jonathan India at second base and Mike Moustakas over at third base. However, Cabrera has been quite productive against left-handed pitching over the past two seasons and has slightly better numbers against lefties than against righties over the course of his lengthy career. And as potent as the Reds’ lineup can be, Cincinnati has quietly been one of the game’s least-productive groups against southpaws, hitting just .231/.313/.380 as a team. Their collective 86 wRC+ against lefties ranks 28th in the Majors. Cabrera gives them a slight upgrade in that regard and also gives manager David Bell some versatility for late-game maneuvering.
Astros Sign Marwin Gonzalez
The Astros have brought infielder/outfielder Marwin Gonzalez back to the organization on a minor league contract, per a club announcement. He’ll head to the team’s Spring Training complex to work out for now. The Red Sox released Gonzalez earlier this month, and he hasn’t played in a game since Aug. 12, so he’ll get some work in there and perhaps be assigned to a minor league affiliate before being considered for the MLB roster.
Gonzalez, 32, spent the first seven seasons of his career in Houston, never really settling into one spot on the diamond but bouncing all around the field as a versatile utility option. After struggling at the plate through his first two seasons at the MLB level, Gonzalez settled in as a roughly average hitter from 2014-16 before a massive season at the plate in 2017, when he hit .303/.377/.530 with career-bests in home runs (23), doubles (34) and walk rate (9.6 percent).
In four seasons since that time, however, Gonzalez has turned in a pedestrian .240/.310/.376 output, and his struggles have been particularly evident over the past two seasons. Dating back to 2020 — the second season of a two-year, $21MM contract he signed in Minnesota — Gonzalez has combined for a dismal .206/.284/.300 batting line. This season’s 25.8 percent strikeout rate through 271 plate appearances is the highest of his career by about three percent.
There’s little harm in the Astros taking a look at a player they know well — particularly one who can bounce around the diamond and fill a versatile bench role in September when rosters expand from 26 to 28 players. Gonzalez hasn’t shown much at the plate recently, but if he’s able to return to the even average levels of offense he’s provided outside of that 2017 campaign, he’d be a nice addition both for the month of September and for the playoffs. The mere fact that he’s in the Astros’ organization prior to Sept. 1 makes him eligible for the postseason roster — even if he’s not selected to the Majors until sometime next month.
Blue Jays Claim Jarrod Dyson
1:11pm: The Royals and Blue Jays have now both announced the move.
12:39pm: The Blue Jays have claimed outfielder Jarrod Dyson off waivers from the Royals, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (Twitter link). Neither club has formally announced the move just yet.
Kansas City never formally designated Dyson for assignment, but it’s not uncommon for clubs to quietly place a player on waivers without first announcing a DFA. The Blue Jays, by claiming Dyson, are now on the hook for the remainder of his $1.5MM salary — about $306K between now and season’s end.
Dyson, 37, returned for a second stint with the Royals this offseason when he inked a one-year, $1.5MM contract in free agency. He’s appeared in 77 games but tallied just 132 plate appearances, instead being utilized more for his blistering speed and defensive acumen late in games. Dyson carries a .221/.256/.311 batting line in that time. He hasn’t homered in 2021 but has doubled seven times, tripled twice and gone 8-for-11 in stolen base attempts this year.
The Royals likely didn’t find much interest in Dyson at the trade deadline, but he’ll only cost the Jays cash and a roster spot at this point. He’ll give the team some needed depth in center field with George Springer again on the shelf, and he’ll also provide Toronto with a dynamic late-game defensive replacement and pinch-running option as they try to close a deficit of five and a half games in the hunt for the second Wild Card spot.
The Royals will save a but of cash by placing him on waivers, but the move is surely more about giving a veteran player the organization respects an opportunity to return to the postseason. By waiting until late in the month of August to place Dyson on waivers, the Royals ensured that the cost of acquiring him was quite minimal, thereby enhancing the chances he’d be claimed. Because he’s joining the Jays organization prior to Sept. 1, Dyson would be eligible for their postseason roster, should Toronto manage to close that considerable gap in the standings.
Orioles Release Maikel Franco
The Orioles announced Friday that third baseman Maikel Franco has cleared release waivers and is now a free agent. He can sign with any club for the remainder of the season, and a new team would owe him only the prorated portion of the league minimum for any time spent on the MLB roster.
Franco, who turned 29 yesterday, was designated for assignment earlier in the week amid a series of Orioles roster moves. He’s been the primary third baseman in Baltimore this season but has managed only a .210/.253/.355 output. Franco has homered 11 times and added 22 doubles in 403 plate appearances, but his general lack of offense reached a tipping point and prompted the Orioles to look at younger options.
As ugly as this season has been, Franco posted a very solid .278/.321/.457 slash with the Royals last summer, appearing in all 60 games and connecting on 24 extra-base hits (eight homers, 16 doubles). The former Phillies top prospect has shown flashes of potential at the plate throughout his big league career but has yet to produce on a consistent basis. Overall, he’s a lifetime .246/.297/.423 with 121 home runs through 3185 plate appearances at the MLB level.
With Franco out of the picture, the Orioles’ infield mix is comprised of Trey Mancini at first base, Jahmai Jones at second base, Jorge Mateo at shortstop and Ramon Urias/Kelvin Gutierrez at third base — at least for the time being. Infield prospect Rylan Bannon looked to be having an absolutely lost year in Triple-A but has been doing everything in his power to salvage his season in recent weeks. Bannon clobbered 10 homers in a span of 10 games this month and is batting .356/.431/1.044 over his past 12 games. His overall season batting line is just .185/.281/.441 — thanks in part to a recent 0-for-35 stretch — but manager Brandon Hyde told MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko earlier this week that there’s “definitely a possibility” of Bannon being summoned to the big leagues in September.