Yankees Release Cliff Pennington
The Yankees have released veteran infielder Cliff Pennington from his minor league contract, reports Conor Foley of the Scranton Times Tribune (via Twitter).
Pennington, 34, inked a minor league pact with the Yankees back in early April shortly after Miguel Andujar and Troy Tulowitzki both landed on the injured list. He appeared in 29 games with New York’s Triple-A affiliate in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, hitting .196/.306/.413 with five long balls, three doubles and a triple in 112 plate appearances. Pennington himself landed on the minor league injured list in mid May due to a hamstring strain. Foley tweeted that he was fielding grounders at shortstop earlier this week, and the Yankees formally activated him from the IL before cutting him loose.
The switch-hitting Pennington is known more for his glove than his bat. He’s a lifetime .242/.309/.339 hitter in 3142 trips to the plate over parts of 11 Major League seasons. The majority of those at-bats came with the Athletics, but he’s also spent three seasons with the D-backs, two with the Angels and partial seasons with both the Reds and Blue Jays. He has nearly 5000 Major League innings at shortstop, more than 1600 at second base and another 325 at the hot corner.
Phillies Select Adam Haseley
5:17pm: Haseley’s contract has been formally selected from Triple-A, per a team announcement. He’ll step into the vacancy left by McCutchen, who will miss the remainder of the season due to a torn ACL in his left knee — a devastating blow to the Phils. Righty Victor Arano was moved to the 60-day IL to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
12:45am: The Phillies plan to bring up outfielder Adam Haseley from Triple-A Lehigh Valley, Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia tweets. If activated, Haseley will require a 40-man spot for the Phillies. They’ll need to clear space for him.
The Phillies have a need for outfield help in the wake of the knee sprain Andrew McCutchen suffered in their loss to the Padres on Monday. Between McCutchen’s injury and Odubel Herrera‘s recent placement on administrative leave, the Phillies are down to Bryce Harper, the just-acquired Jay Bruce, Scott Kingery, Sean Rodriguez and Phil Gosselin as their outfield-capable players in the majors. The team also has Nick Williams in Lehigh Valley, but it’s primed to turn to Haseley instead.
With draft season in full swing, it’s worth noting the 23-year-old Haseley was a high pick not long ago. The Phillies chose Haseley eighth overall in 2017, but the former University of Virginia outfielder and pitcher hasn’t remained an elite prospect since going pro. MLB.com does not count Haseley among its top 100 farmhands, but it does place him third in Philly’s system, contending there’s potential for him to turn into a “solid” regular center fielder in the bigs. Kiley McDaniel and Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs rank Haseley fifth among Phillies prospects and write he could become a two- to three-WAR player in the majors.
The lefty-swinging Haseley made a case for a promotion at the Double-A level last year and earlier this season, slashing .291/.378/.474 with 13 home runs in 336 plate appearances. Haseley has only walked to the plate 22 times in Triple-A so far, but he has hit .300/.364/.450 in that small sample.
Royals To Release Chris Owings
The Royals announced Tuesday that they’ve requested unconditional release waivers on infielder/outfielder Chris Owings. He was designated for assignment last week and will become a free agent once he clears in 48 hours. Kansas City has also recalled third baseman Kelvin Gutierrez from Triple-A Omaha.
Owings was brought in early this winter (Dec. 5) on a one-year, $3MM contract that ultimately didn’t pay dividends for Kansas City. The longtime Diamondbacks utilityman hit just .133/.193/.222 through 145 plate appearances with his new club while playing all three outfield positions, second base, third base and shortstop. Owings’ decision to pounce on an early big league offer from the Royals proved wise even looking beyond his poor play in K.C.; several other veteran infielders and outfielders lingered on the market and eventually signed for smaller guarantees (e.g. Josh Harrison) or minor league contracts (e.g. Jose Iglesias).
The 2019 season is the second straight rough campaign for Owings, who hit .206/.272/.302 through 309 plate appearances with the Diamondbacks in 2018. Overall, he’s never matched the gaudy numbers he put up as a prospect in Triple-A, when he once won Pacific Coast League MVP honors. But, Owings does have some speed (and is quite efficient at base stealing, as evidenced by a career 84 percent success rate), some gap power and experience playing nearly everywhere on the diamond. He could latch on with a club whose infield depth has been compromised or a team looking to bolster its bench with some versatility, but Owings’ play dating back to Opening Day 2018 makes a minor league pact seem the likeliest outcome for him.
In Gutierrez, the Royals will take a second look at one of the key pieces acquired in last season’s Kelvin Herrera trade with the Nationals. The 24-year-old hit .281/.300/.386 with 18 strikeouts against just two walks through 60 trips to the plate in his first look at the big league level earlier this year. He’s hitting at a .312/.430/.403 clip in 93 Triple-A plate appearances, however, and the Royals have some additional needs around the infield with 2019 breakout slugger Hunter Dozier on the injured list.
Minor MLB Transactions: Marlins, D-backs, Padres
A couple of the latest minor moves from around baseball, courtesy of Roster Roundup:
- The Marlins have acquired catcher Tyler Heineman from the Diamondbacks. The D-backs presumably received cash in the deal for Heineman, who took 90 plate appearances with their Triple-A club in Reno and hit .325/.407/.525 (134 wRC+). Now 27, the amateur magician was a decent Astros prospect in his younger days. Heineman entered the pros as Houston’s eighth-round pick in 2012.
- The Padres have released outfielder Jacob Scavuzzo, who posted quality power numbers with their Triple-A team in El Paso this year. While the 25-year-old slashed .259/.300/.696 (127 wRC+) with 15 home runs and a .438 ISO in the offense-driven Pacific Coast League, he went down on strikes 40 times against just five walks. Scavuzzo was with the Dodgers through last season after joining them as a 21st-rounder in 2012. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen pointed out Scavuzzo’s lack of plate discipline a little over a year ago while assessing the Dodgers’ prospects, but he did credit the right-handed hitter’s “big pop.”
Rays Sign Vidal Nuno
The Rays have signed left-handed reliever Vidal Nuno III, according to Roster Roundup. He presumably inked a minor league contract.
Nuno landed a minors deal with the Nationals back in January, but they released him last week with a June 15 opt-out date approaching. The 31-year-old struggled to a 7.25 ERA/6.32 FIP with 10.07 K/9, 4.84 BB/9 and a 35.9 percent groundball rate in 22 1/3 innings with the Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate before returning to the open market. A significant portion of that damage came in one appearance, though.
With his Washington stint in the rearview, Nuno’s returning to the Tampa Bay organization. He spent last season with the Rays, notching 33 innings of 1.64 ERA ball in the majors. The soft-tossing Nuno’s success in the run prevention department came with less encouraging peripherals, though, as he recorded a 4.46 FIP with 7.91 K/9, 2.73 BB/9 and a paltry 28.6 percent grounder rate. He also benefited from a perfect strand rate and a .216 batting average on balls in play against.
Also a former Yankee, Diamondback, Mariner and Oriole, Nuno saw big league action in each season between his 2013 debut and last year. He owns a 4.06 ERA/4.68 FIP, 7.45 K/9 against 2.51 BB/9, and a 37.9 percent grounder mark in 377 innings at the sport’s top level.
Orioles Select Adley Rutschman First Overall
The Orioles have a new front office and new dugout leadership. And now, the club has a new top prospect after officially selecting star Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman with the first overall pick of the 2019 Rule 4 amateur draft.
Though the Baltimore organization kept things quiet in the build-up to the draft, it would have rated as a major surprise had the club gone in a different direction. Rutschman checks all the boxes you want to see in a 1-1 draft selection.
Rutschman is widely considered the best overall prospect available this year. He’s a highly accomplished collegiate catcher who helped his team to a national championship last year. (Indeed, he was named the most outstanding player of the College World Series.)
Scouting reports on Rutschman, an Oregon native, read like a creat-a-player dream list from a video game. He’s a switch hitter who has walked more often than striking out in college even while delivering outstanding power. Scouts also grade him as a top-tier defensive performer behind the dish.
It’s a momentous decision for an Orioles club that has fallen on hard times after a questionable call to attempt to contend in 2018. The team’s new front office will look to assemble as much talent as possible and ramp up toward a return to glory, with Rutschman’s timeline likely to be a key factor.
The first overall pick comes with a $8.42MM bonus allocation. The O’s have the second-highest overall pool allocation. While the Diamondbacks won’t choose until the 16th overall pick, they added a pair of compensation picks that significantly boosted their overall availability.
Angels Designate John Curtiss
The Angels have designated righty John Curtiss for assignment, per a club announcement. Infielder Taylor Ward will take the open active roster spot.
The club also announced that outfielder Michael Hermosillo has been reinstated from the 60-day IL. That move absorbs the newly opened 40-man spot. Hermosillo was optioned to Triple-A.
The 26-year-old Curtiss did not get into a game in his second stint of the year on the MLB roster; he made just one appearance earlier in the season. In 21 1/3 innings this year at Triple-A, Curtiss has allowed 14 earned runs on twenty hits with a 29:13 K/BB ratio.
Zac Rosscup Elects Free Agency
12:05pm: The team announced that Rosscup has elected free agency rather than take an outright assignment, as is his right as a player with more than three years of big league service time.
10:20am: Left-hander Zac Rosscup cleared waivers and was assigned outright to Triple-A Buffalo by the Blue Jays following last week’s DFA, per the team’s transactions page.
Rosscup, 31 next week, appeared in just two games with the Jays after being claimed off waivers out of the Mariners organization, allowing four runs on three hits and two walks with two strikeouts in one inning. Rosscup has posted huge swinging-strike rates over the past couple of seasons and demonstrated an ability to rack up strikeouts in bunches — 42 in his past 26 innings — but his control has been evaporated in 2019. Through 15 innings of work this year, he’s allowed 16 walks and thrown two wild pitches.
Control issues notwithstanding, Rosscup averages 92.4 mph on his fastball and has generated a gaudy 23.7 percent swinging-strike rate on his slider since the start of the 2018 campaign. He’s also out of minor league options, so any club that eventually puts him back on the big league roster would need to expose him to waivers again if it wished to then send him back to the minors.
Cubs Select Carlos Gonzalez, Designate Jim Adduci For Assignment
The Cubs have selected the contract of veteran outfielder Carlos Gonzalez from Triple-A, per a team announcement. His promotion was first reported by Daniel Alvarez Montas of El Extra Base (Twitter link). In a corresponding move, outfielder/first baseman Jim Adduci has been designated for assignment (as ESPN Chicago’s Jesse Rogers suggested would be the case).
Gonzalez, 33, began the season on a minor league deal with the Indians but cracked the big league roster there in late April. His time with Cleveland didn’t prove fruitful, however, as he struggled to a .210/.282/.276 batting line with a pair of home runs, a double and 33 strikeouts in 117 plate appearances. The former All-Star, batting champion and MVP candidate signed a minor league deal with Chicago last week. His power and overall offensive performance has waned in recent seasons, but Gonzalez did hit .276/.329/.467 with 16 homers for the Rox a season ago.
The Cubs are essentially taking a free look at Gonzalez to see if he can help to provide some left-handed punch to their lineup. At the moment, with Ben Zobrist away from the team indefinitely and Ian Happ posting pedestrian numbers in Iowa, the Cubs’ only lefty bats off the bench were Adduci and backup catcher Victor Caratini (a switch-hitter). He’ll get a new chance to prove he still has some fuel left in the tank and will be thrown right into the mix; Gonzalez is hitting fifth and playing right field for the Cubs today.
Adduci, 34, went hitless in five plate appearances with Chicago after joining the roster last week. He batted .261/.306/.478 through 41 games in Iowa prior to his call back to the Majors and hit .267/.290/.386 in 185 plate appearances for the Tigers last season.
Angels Release Matt Ramsey
The Angels have requested unconditional release waivers on right-hander Matt Ramsey, as per a team announcement (Twitter link). Ramsey was designated for assignment by the Angels on Friday.
Originally a 19th-round draft pick for the Rays in 2011, Ramsey finally made his Major League debut earlier this season, tossing a perfect inning of work to finish off an 11-5 Angels win over the Yankees on April 25. After that cup of coffee in the bigs, Ramsey was optioned back to Triple-A, where he has struggled to a 5.27 ERA and 5.3 BB/9 over 13 2/3 innings in 2019, albeit with a 9.9 K/9. Those numbers are a big step down from the otherwise solid work Ramsey has delivered in his minor league career — a 2.82 ERA, 10.8 K/9, and a 2.83 K/BB rate over 264 2/3 innings in five different organizations’ farm systems.