Rangers Designate Khris Davis For Assignment
The Rangers have designated DH/outfielder Khris Davis for assignment, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweets.
A three-time 40-home run hitter, Davis joined the Rangers in the offseason in a trade with the Athletics, who acquired shortstop Elvis Andrus as their headlining piece. Neither player has performed well this season, however. Davis missed the first month-plus of the season with a left quad strain and has since batted .157/.262/.333 with a pair of home runs in 61 plate appearances. So far, it’s the third straight year in which Davis has posted subpar production at the plate.
Davis is making $16.7MM this season, the last of a two-year, $33.5MM contract. Considering Davis’ offensive issues and his lack of defensive value, he’s unlikely to appeal to any team in a trade over the next week.
To replace Davis, the Rangers recalled infielder/outfielder Eli White, whom they also acquired from the A’s in a past trade. White has hit a dismal .155/.214/.194 with zero home runs in 112 PA since he debuted last year.
Outrighted: Martini, Minaya
The latest outrights from around Major League Baseball:
- Cubs outfielder Nick Martini has accepted an assignment to Triple-A Iowa after clearing waivers, Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune was among those to report. Martini – who signed a minor league contract with the Cubs in the offseason – earned a promotion in early May but went just 1-for-12 in the bigs before they designated him for assignment last week. The 30-year-old former Athletic and Padre has enjoyed some success in the majors, though, as shown by his .261/.363/.366 line across 303 plate appearances.
- Righty Juan Minaya will stay with the Twins after accepting an outright assignment to Triple-A St. Paul, Dan Hayes of The Athletic tweets. The club designated Minaya over the weekend after he yielded three earned runs on five hits (including two homers) and put up four strikeouts against three walks in 6 1/3 innings. It was the first major league action for the 30-year-old since his run with the White Sox from 2016-19. He joined the Twins on a minors pact over the winter.
Phillies Select Luke Williams
The Phillies have selected the contract of infielder Luke Williams from Triple-A Lehigh Valley, according to Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. Philadelphia also reinstated right-handers Chase Anderson and David Hale from the COVID-19 injured list, optioned lefty Cristopher Sanchez and placed reliever Brandon Kintzler on the 10-day IL (retroactive to Monday) with a neck strain.
This is the first major league opportunity for Williams, a 24-year-old who has been with the Phillies since they drafted him in Round 3 in 2015. Williams now ranks as the Phillies’ 29th-best prospect at MLB.com, which compliments his high-end speed, defensive versatility and improving offense. Indeed, in his Triple-A debut this year, Williams has slashed a marvelous .352/.439/.465 with three stolen bases in 82 plate appearances.
Kintzler, meanwhile, has gotten off to a rough start this year after joining the Phillies on a minor league contract in the winter. The 36-year-old previously established himself as a competent reliever with multiple teams, but he has only managed an 8.50 ERA in 18 innings this season. To Kintzler’s credit, he has continued to induce groundballs and limit walks at above-average clips, and his 3.47 SIERA suggests better days may be ahead.
Brewers Select Jace Peterson
The Brewers announced that they have selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Jace Peterson from Triple-A Nashville. He’ll take the roster spot of infielder Keston Hiura, whom the Brewers optioned on Monday.
The 31-year-old Peterson was with the Brewers earlier in the season, but they designated him for assignment on May 24. That came in spite of a productive year-plus offensive showing for Peterson, who has batted .203/.371/.391 (114 wRC+) with four home runs in 89 plate appearances as a Brewer since 2020. But Peterson hasn’t typically been that effective in the majors, evidenced by his lifetime .227/.317/.333 mark across 1,721 trips to the plate with a few teams. Regardless of how he hits, though, Peterson has shown that he’s versatile enough as a defender to line up all over the diamond.
Mariners Designate Jacob Nottingham For Assignment
The Mariners announced Tuesday that they have once again designated catcher Jacob Nottingham for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster goes to outfielder Dillon Thomas, whose promotion to the big leagues was reported earlier this morning.
It’s the latest in a staggering series of transactions for Nottingham, who has spent the past several seasons with the Brewers organization and recently begun to be ping-ponged back and forth between Seattle and Milwaukee. A quick rundown of Nottingham’s bizarre timeline leading up to today’s DFA:
- April 22: Brewers designate Nottingham for assignment
- April 28: Mariners claim Nottingham of waivers
- May 1: Mariners designate Nottingham for assignment
- May 2: Brewers reacquire Nottingham in exchange for cash
- May 20: Mariners re-claim Nottingham off waivers
It remains to be seen if the Brewers will take another run at Nottingham, if he’ll land with another club or, perhaps, if he might finally clear waivers. The Mariners will have a week to gauge trade interest in the catcher or once again attempt to pass him through outright waivers. He’s out of minor league options, so any team that claims or acquires Nottingham will have to carry him on its MLB roster.
On the one hand, Nottingham is surely grateful to be in demand by at least these two teams. He gets Major League service time and Major League pay for any time spent in DFA limbo, so he’s at least being well compensated for the increasingly ridiculous tug-of-war the two teams are playing over him. On the other hand, it’s difficult for any player to bounce back and forth this much. Family considerations, housing, Covid protocols and myriad other factors come into play every time he changes teams.
Nottingham was once a catching prospect of some note, although he’s yet to receive any sort of regular playing time in the Majors. (Clearly, this year’s sequence isn’t helping.) He’s a career .250/.326/.421 hitter in 528 Triple-A plate appearances but has managed a more tepid .184/.277/.421 slash in a small sample of 130 plate appearances in the Majors. He homered twice in his 2021 debut with the Brewers and has also connected on a long ball in Seattle, but Nottingham’s 45 plate appearances in this strange season have resulted in a .150/.222/.400 output.
Mariners To Select Dillon Thomas
The Mariners will select the contract of outfielder Dillon Thomas from Triple-A Tacoma prior to today’s game, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (via Twitter). It’ll be the 28-year-old’s first call to the big leagues.
Thomas, a fourth-round pick by the 2011 Rockies, spent six years in Colorado’s system and another pair of seasons in the Cubs organization before joining the Mariners on a minor league pact over the winter. He’s made a good impression in his first look with Tacoma, raking at a .338/.459/.625 pace with six homers, five doubles, four steals (in five tries) and a hearty 12.2 percent walk rate through his first 98 plate appearances.
Outside of three games at first base with the Rockies’ Double-A club back in 2016, Thomas has worked exclusively as an outfielder in his minor league career. He’ll join Jake Fraley and Taylor Trammell as left-handed outfield options alongside right-handed-hitting veteran Mitch Haniger. The Mariners, of course, are without Kyle Lewis for the foreseeable future owing to a knee injury and just yesterday optioned top prospect Jarred Kelenic back to Tacoma after several weeks of struggles against big league pitching.
Trammell laid waste to Triple-A pitching in his brief demotion to Tacoma, and given his own widely agreed-upon status as one of the game’s top outfield prospects, he ought to be in line for regular reps in center again. Haniger is a fixture in right field, save for the occasional day at designated hitter. That leaves Fraley, Thomas and perhaps utilityman Donovan Walton as the Mariners’ top options for work in left field at the moment.
Minor MLB Transactions: 6/7/21
The latest minor moves from around baseball…
- Reds righty Hector Perez cleared waivers and was outrighted off their roster, Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer tweets. Perez, who celebrated his 25th birthday on Sunday, had been in limbo since the Reds designated him on June 2. He began this year by pitching to a 9.35 ERA in 8 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level before his designation.
Earlier:
- The Red Sox outrighted Colten Brewer to Triple-A after the right-hander cleared waivers. Brewer was designated for assignment last Thursday. After a pretty solid 2019 season out of Boston’s bullpen, Brewer has struggled to a 6.75 ERA in 26 2/3 frames over the last two years, including a single inning of work this season that saw him allow four earned runs.
Giants To Select Sam Long
The Giants will select the contract of left-hander Sam Long, according to Robert Murray of FanSided. He’ll start their game against the Rangers on Wednesday.
Long was an 18th-round pick of the Rays in 2016 who signed a minor league contract with the Giants entering the current season. He has since recorded a fantastic 1.99 ERA with 37 strikeouts against five walks in 22 2/3 innings divided between Double-A and Triple-A. Overall, Long has pitched to a 2.83 ERA through 178 1/3 minor league frames.
Once he arrives, Long will join a contending San Francisco club that’s currently without Aaron Sanchez and Logan Webb, who have combined for 15 effective starts but are on the injured list at the moment. Kevin Gausman, Anthony DeSclafani, Johnny Cueto and Alex Wood have been good in their own right, and their efforts have helped the Giants to a two-game lead in the National League West.
Phillies Outright Scott Kingery
The Phillies announced that they have reinstated infielder/outfielder Scott Kingery from the injured list and outrighted him to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Kingery cleared waivers and is no longer part of the Phillies’ 40-man roster, though he’s still with the organization.
Needless to say, this is not what the Phillies had in mind when they signed Kingery to a six-year, $24MM guarantee entering the 2018 season. Kingery hadn’t even played in the majors at that point, making his deal the largest for anyone who hadn’t yet appeared in the bigs. The former second-round pick was a top-tier prospect then, which led the Phillies to gamble on locking him up at what they thought were team-friendly prices for the long haul. He’s earning $4MM this year, and the club owes him a combined $15MM from 2022-24 (including a $1MM buyout for the last of those seasons).
While Kingery’s pact also includes team options ranging from $13MM to $15MM from 2024-26, it seems doubtful he’ll ever rake in that money. After all, the 27-year-old has failed to establish himself as a viable major leaguer, having batted just .229/.280/.387 with 30 home runs and 25 stolen bases in 1,127 plate appearances. Kingery, who’s just 1-for-19 with 12 strikeouts in the bigs this season, hasn’t played with the Phillies since May 16. He’ll now have to try to make his way back to their roster via Triple-A, where he’s a .291/.330/.453 hitter across 307 trips to the plate.
Angels Designate Hunter Strickland For Assignment
The Angels announced that they have designated veteran right-handed reliever Hunter Strickland for assignment. In a corresponding move, the club recalled righty James Hoyt.
Strickland has only been with the Angels for a few weeks, as the team acquired him from the Rays for cash considerations or a player to be named later on May 15. At that point, Strickland owned a stingy 1.69 ERA with a 24.2 percent strikeout rate and a 9.1 percent walk rate in 16 innings, but he was unable to continue that effectiveness as an Angel. The 32-year-old now sports a 4.03 ERA with a 20 percent strikeout rate against a 10 percent walk rate through 22 1/3 frames.
The Angels could find a taker in a trade for Strickland, who has enjoyed a solid career despite recent struggles. Otherwise, considering Strickland has been outrighted in the past and has enough service time, he may elect to test free agency if he doesn’t want to join the Angels’ Triple-A affiliate.