Minor MLB Transactions: 10/27/20
The latest minor moves from around the game…
- The Yankees announced that they have outrighted catcher Wynston Sawyer to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The team selected Sawyer’s contract in the middle of September, but he didn’t end up seeing any major league time in 2020. In his most recent professional action in 2019, Sawyer – an eighth-round pick of the Orioles in 2010 – batted .260/.333/.409 with two home runs in 171 plate appearances with the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate. The 28-year-old joined the Yankees on a minor league contract in February.
- The Mariners have re-signed outfielder Connor Lien to a minors deal, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times tweets. Lien, 26, was a 12th-round pick of the Braves in 2012 who, to this point, has played his entire professional career with the franchise. He divided the most recent minor league season in 2019 between Double-A and Triple-A, where he combined to hit .211/.314/.441 with 11 homers over 246 trips to the plate.
Diamondbacks Outright Silvino Bracho, Bo Takahashi
The Diamondbacks announced that they have outrighted righties Silvino Bracho and Bo Takahashi to Triple-A Reno. They now have 38 players on their 40-man roster.
The 28-year-old Bracho was an effective part of the Diamondbacks’ bullpen in 2018, when he pitched to a 3.19 ERA/3.26 FIP with 9.87 K/9 and 3.48 BB/9 over 31 innings. But Bracho underwent Tommy John surgery before 2019, costing him that entire season, and he only threw one frame this year after testing positive for COVID-19.
Takahashi, 23, has been part of the D-backs’ minor league system since 2014. He reached Double-A ball in both the 2018 and ’19 seasons, when he combined for a 4.09 ERA and logged 8.5 K/9 against 2.7 BB/9 in 191 2/3 innings.
Tigers Outright Three Players To Triple-A
The Tigers have outrighted outfielder Jorge Bonifacio and right-handers Dario Agrazal and Dereck Rodriguez to Triple-A after the trio cleared waivers, the team announced (Twitter link). Left-hander Nick Ramirez also cleared waivers and elected to become a free agent.
Bonifacio saw the most MLB action in 2020, making 94 plate appearances over 30 games with Detroit and hitting .221/.277/.326. Signed to a minor league deal last winter, Bonifacio has played 217 games with the Tigers and Royals since the start of the 2017 season. Once a noted prospect who received some top-100 attention prior to the 2014 season, Bonifacio has been trying to get on track since an 80-game PED suspension in 2018.
Ramirez has spent the last two years in the Detroit organization, making his big league debut in 2019 and immediately delivering some solid numbers (4.07 ERA, 2.11 K/BB rate, 8.4 K/9) in his first 79 2/3 innings as a big leaguer. The southpaw didn’t see much action in 2020, however, tossing only 10 2/3 frames and posting a 5.91 ERA. The 31-year-old Ramirez will now head into free agency offering both some durability as a multi-inning reliever and some quality career splits (.227/.306/.355) against left-handed batters.
Rodriguez appeared in two games with the Giants this season before being claimed off waivers by the Tigers at the end of August. The righty emerged as a rotation candidate in San Francisco during his 2018 rookie season but he has a 5.94 ERA over his last 103 Major League innings, in large part due to a whopping 23 homers allowed in that small sample size.
This is the third consecutive offseason that Agrazal has found himself outrighted off a 40-man roster, having been cut by the Tigers last winter and the Pirates in the 2018-19 offseason. The 25-year-old made Detroit’s Opening Day roster but didn’t pitch at all this season due to a forearm strain. Agrazal has a 3.62 ERA, 4.48 K/BB rate, and 5.8 K/9 over 608 2/3 minor league innings (all in Pittsburgh’s farm system), starting 111 of his 114 career games. His big league resume consists of 73 1/3 innings of 4.91 ERA ball with the Pirates in 2019, before the Tigers acquired him last November.
Reds Outright Joel Kuhnel
The Reds announced Monday that right-hander Joel Kuhnel has cleared waivers been assigned outright to Triple-A Louisville. Between Kuhnel’s outright and the Mets’ claim of Robel Garcia, the Reds have opened a pair of spots on the 40-man roster.
Kuhnel, 25, has pitched 12 2/3 innings with Cincinnati over the past two seasons, working to a combined 4.97 ERA with a 12-to-5 K/BB ratio and a 47.4 percent ground-ball rate in that limited sample. He averaged better than 96 mph on his heater in 2019 with a swinging-strike of 14.5 percent, though both those marks were down in 2020 — albeit in a minuscule sample of three innings (95.4 mph; 3.5 percent).
Kuhnel, an 11th-round pick by the Reds in 2016, obviously didn’t pitch much in a game setting this year thanks to the absence of a minor league season. His last extended minor league work came in 2019, when he notched a tidy 2.18 ERA with a 50-to-16 K/BB ratio in 53 2/3 frames between Double-A and Triple-A.
Red Sox Outright 5 Players
The Red Sox have outrighted infielder/outfielder Tzu-Wei Lin, right-handers Robinson Leyer, Zack Godley and Andrew Triggs, and lefty Mike Kickham, Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic tweets. Godley, Triggs and Kickham have elected free agency.
The most established major leaguer of the bunch is the 30-year-old Godley, who had some success with the Diamondbacks from 2015-19. But Godley struggled in the last of those seasons and had another down year with the Red Sox in 2020. He wound up tossing 28 2/3 innings of 8.16 ERA/7.10 FIP ball with 8.79 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9, all while averaging a career-worst 89.7 mph on his fastball.
Triggs, 31, also didn’t prove to be part of the solution for Boston’s pitching staff. He ended the year with 8 1/3 innings and seven earned runs allowed, owing in part to the three homers he surrendered. Neither Leyer nor Kickham helped the club’s cause, either, combining for a whopping 23 earned runs given up over 18 2/3 frames.
Lin, the lone position player in the group, was a promising prospect in his younger days, but he hasn’t performed at the MLB level so far. Since he debuted in 2017, the 26-year-old has hit .223/.298/.316 with one homer in 218 plate appearances. He took 57 trips to the plate this year and batted a mere .154/.182/.173 with no HRs and a paltry .019 ISO.
Mets Claim Robel Garcia, Designate Ryan Cordell
The Mets announced Monday that they’ve claimed infielder Robel Garcia off waivers from the Reds. Outfielder Ryan Cordell was designated for assignment to create space on the Mets’ roster.
Garcia, 27, made his MLB debut with the Cubs in 2019 after after a highly unusual path to The Show. The former Indians farmhand was out of affiliated ball from 2014-18 before the Cubs caught a look at him playing for a professional team in Italy. They brought him in on a minor league pact, and Garcia showed off light-tower power at Triple-A in 2019 — 21 homers in 296 plate appearances — before being called up.
The Cubs gave Garcia 80 plate appearances in 2019, and he responded with a tepid .208 average and .275 on-base percentage, but he still slugged .500 thanks to five homers, two doubles and two triples in that short time. Garcia also punched out in 35 of those 80 plate appearances, so while the raw power he possesses is plain to see, there’s some obvious work to be done on his approach at the plate.
Defensively, Garcia saw time at all four infield positions and both outfield corners during his stint with the Cubs organization, although he was primarily a second baseman and third baseman in the minors. He didn’t appear in the Majors this past season and would seem like a long shot to open next year on the Mets’ roster, if he survives the winter on their 40-man roster. He’s only been optioned in two different seasons, though, so he should have one minor league option remaining next year.
Cordell, 28, joined the Mets as a minor league free agent last offseason and tallied just eight plate appearances in five games with them this year. He was once a well-regarded prospect but has turned in a lackluster .202/.263/.328 batting line through 295 career trips to the plate with the White Sox and Mets. He’s capable of playing all three outfield positions and has a lifetime .266/.323/.451 batting line in Triple-A.
Diamondbacks Release Artie Lewicki
TODAY: SK Wyverns of the Korea Baseball Organization are in negotiations with Lewicki, according to a report from MBC Plus (hat tip to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net)
OCTOBER 24: The Diamondbacks have released right-hander Artie Lewicki, as per the MLB.com transactions page. According to Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic, Lewicki will be signing with a team in Asia.
Lewicki appeared in two games for the D’Backs this season, making his return to the field after Tommy John surgery sidelined him for all of 2019. Lewicki posted a 5.14 ERA over 49 innings for Detroit in 2017-18 before the D’Backs claimed him off waivers following the 2018 campaign.
Originally an eighth-round pick for the Tigers in the 2014 draft, Lewicki had some solid numbers over 398 2/3 innings in the Detroit farm system. Starting 68 of 81 games, Lewicki had a 3.54 ERA, 3.54 K/BB, and 8.1 K/9 as a minor leaguer.
Orioles To Re-Sign Stevie Wilkerson
The Orioles are re-signing utilityman Stevie Wilkerson to a minor-league contract, reports Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. He’ll receive an invitation to spring training.
The 28-year-old (29 in January) saw rather extensive action for Baltimore between 2018-19. Across those two seasons, he took 410 plate appearances and put together a .219/.279/.365 line with ten home runs. Lackluster offensive showing aside, Wilkerson found his way into the lineup thanks to his defensive versatility. He logged the majority of his action in center field, but he also picked up multiple starts at second and third base and in the corner outfield. Wilkerson even pitched four times in mop-up duty.
Outrighted off the O’s 40-man roster last offseason, Wilkerson still received an invitation to Summer Camp. Unfortunately, he broke his left ring finger during workouts and didn’t get into a game. He’ll look to play his way back into the mix next spring.
D-backs Claim Taylor Guilbeau From Mariners; M’s Outright Gerson Bautista
The Diamondbacks have claimed left-hander Taylor Guilbeau off waivers from the Mariners, per an announcement from Seattle. The M’s also announced that righty Gerson Bautista has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma.
Now 27 years old, Guilbeau joined the Mariners as part of their return from the Nationals in a 2019 deal that sent relievers Roenis Elias and Hunter Strickland to Washington. Guilbeau went on to toss 20 innings of 2.70 ERA ball with a 59.1 percent groundball rate as a member of the Mariners, though he also struck out barely more hitters (10) than he walked (nine). He dealt with a shoulder strain in 2020 and saw his velocity tumble.
Bautista, whom the Mariners acquired in their pre-2019 trade with the Mets centering on Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz, has only thrown nine innings with Seattle. He racked up all of those frames in 2019, as the 25-year-old missed all of this season with a flexor strain in his right elbow.
Mariners Claim Domingo Tapia From Red Sox
The Mariners announced that they have claimed right-hander Domingo Tapia from the Red Sox via waivers. Seattle now has 34 players on its 40-man roster.
Tapia, formerly a farmhand with the Mets and Reds, joined the Red Sox on a minor league contract last December. The hard-throwing 29-year-old wound up making his major league debut with Boston this past season and tossing 4 1/3 innings of one-run, four-hit ball with four strikeouts and two walks. Tapia has also spent time at the Triple-A level, where he has pitched to a 4.34 ERA and posted 6.8 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9 over 134 2/3 innings.