Pirates Designate Tyler Lyons For Assignment
The Pirates announced that they’ve designated left-hander Tyler Lyons for assignment. His roster spot will go to right-handed reliever Montana DuRapau, whose previously reported promotion from Triple-A is now official. The Bucs have also recalled righty Clay Holmes, who’ll step into the vacancy created by the placement of Keone Kela on the 10-day injured list (right shoulder inflammation).
Lyons, 31, appeared in just three games for the Pirates, during which time he surrendered five runs on six hits and three walks with five punchouts in four innings of relief. His results dating back to the 2018 campaign are ugly, though they only span a total of 20 2/3 frames.
Prior to that stretch, Lyons enjoyed a three-year stint as a quality bullpen piece with the Cardinals, pitching to a combined 3.33 ERA with 9.7 K/9, 2.7 BB/9 and 1.3 HR/9 over the life of 162 innings of bullpen duty. Lyons’ 2017 season was particularly impressive, featuring a career-best 11.3 strikeouts per nine innings pitched as well as a 2.83 ERA and 2.86 FIP to match. The Pirates had hoped he’d be able to round back into that form but apparently didn’t see enough promise in Lyons’ stuff to look past the ugly, small-sample results.
As noted yesterday at the time DuRapau’s promotion was reported, the 27-year-old righty is a former 32nd-round pick who has been lights out in Triple-A to open the season. Through his first 14 1/3 innings, he’s allowed one run on five hits and five walks with 18 strikeouts and a 46.2 percent ground-ball rate that marks a dramatic improvement over his previous ground-ball tendencies.
Yankees Select Nestor Cortes Jr., Transfer Dellin Betances To 60-Day Injured List
May 9: The Yankees announced that Cortes has indeed been added to the Major League roster. In order to open space on the 40-man roster, right-hander Dellin Betances was transferred to the 60-day injured list. Betances has already been on the injured list for 44 days, so transferring him to the 60-day injured list at this point is largely a formality.
May 8, 9:52pm: Right-hander Jake Barrett has been optioned to Triple-A, the Yankees announced following tonight’s loss. The team will still need to make a 40-man move to accommodate Cortes.
9:34pm: The Yankees will select the contract of left-hander Nestor Cortes Jr. from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, reports Conor Foley of the Scranton Tribune-Times (via Twitter). The team has yet to formally announce the move, though Foley suggests that Cortes and his teammates were already informed of the move. A corresponding 40-man roster move will need to be made.
It’ll be the Yankees debut for Cortes, 24, though it won’t be his Major League debut. The Orioles selected him in the 2017 Rule 5 Draft and carried him on the big league roster for the season’s first couple of weeks before returning him to the Yankees. He tossed 4 2/3 innings in Baltimore and allowed four runs in that brief cup of coffee. Since returning to the Yankees organization last season, the 5’11”, 205-pound Cortes has pitched to a 3.90 ERA with 130 strikeouts against 48 walks and a 35.5 percent ground-ball rate in 145 1/3 innings of work at the Triple-A level.
Cortes won’t start for the Yankees tomorrow — that outing will go to J.A. Happ — but he’ll give the Yankees a fresh arm on the heels of a game in which the bullpen needed to cover five innings of work.
Pirates To Select Contract Of Montana DuRapau
The Pirates are set to select the contract of right-handed reliever Montana DuRapau, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports (via Twitter). It’ll be the MLB debut for the former 32nd-round pick when he first takes the mound for the Buccos.
DuRapau, 27, will add a fresh arm to the Pirates’ bullpen for their upcoming series against the division-rival Cardinals (and will also continue the storied lineage of Bucco relievers with 80-grade names, following in the footsteps of Arquimedes Caminero and Dovydas Neverauskas). The righty enjoyed a terrific 2017 season between Double-A and Triple-A in the Pirates organization before stumbling between those same two levels last season when posted a combined ERA north of 5.00.
This year, he’s off to a fantastic start in Triple-A, having yielded just one earned run on five hits and five walks (one intentional) with 18 strikeouts in 14 1/3 innings of work. DuRapau has been a pronounced fly-ball pitcher in each of his first two seasons in the upper minors but has worked to an above-average 46.4 percent ground-ball rate thus far in the 2019 campaign as well. Missing bats has never been much of an issue for DuRapau, as evidenced by his career 9.9 K/9 mark in Double-A and an even more impressive 11.4 K/9 in Triple-A.
The Pirates will need to open a spot on the 40-man roster for DuRapau. Depending on when they feel Lonnie Chisenhall will be ready to go out on a minor league rehab assignment, they could just transfer him to the 60-day injured list, as he’s already been on the 10-day IL for a span of 44 days (and a move to the 60-day would not require resetting him back at one). He’s still not quite ready to run the bases, per MLB.com’s Adam Berry, so he’s a logical candidate for that type of move.
Minor MLB Transactions: 5/8/19
We’ll track the day’s minor moves in this post …
- The Pirates announced that outfielder JB Shuck cleared waivers and was assigned outright to Triple-A Indianapolis. He’d been designated for assignment over the weekend. Shuck, 32 next month, cracked Pittsburgh’s Opening Day roster due to a series of injuries elsewhere in the lineup but was cut loose once the Bucco outfield mix largely returned to health. He hit .213/.339/.255 in 57 plate appearances and will remain on-hand as a depth option with some MLB experience. In parts of seven MLB seasons, Shuck is a .243/.296/.314 hitter through 1289 PAs.
- Right-hander Jay Jackson, whom the Brewers designated for assignment this weekend, cleared outright waivers and will head to Triple-A San Antonio, per an announcement from the Brewers. The 31-year-old was tagged for five runs in 2 1/3 innings in what proved a brief return to the big leagues following a successful three-year stint in Japan (2.13 ERA, 202-to-70 K/BB ratio in 182 innings). It was a short look at the MLB level, but the Brewers have been mixing and matching in the bullpen all season as they try to piece together a pitching staff that has been shuffled by injuries and ineffective performances from expected contributors. Given Jackson’s recent success in NPB, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him back in the Milwaukee bullpen later this year if he gets on a roll in San Antonio.
Earlier Moves
- The White Sox have added infielder Ivan De Jesus Jr. on a minor-league deal, per an announcement from the Long Island Ducks. De Jesus had opened the season with the indy ball outfit but will now slide back to the affiliated ranks. The 32-year-old is a .242/.303/.327 hitter in 545 plate appearances over parts of four seasons. He’s mostly a middle infielder by trade but has seen action in the corner infield and outfield as well over the years. De Jesus will report to the Sox’ top affiliate.
Dodgers Release Josh Smoker, Ezequiel Carrera
The Dodgers released lefty Josh Smoker and outfielder Ezequiel Carrera from their Triple-A club, as first indicated on the Pacific Coast League’s transactions log.
Neither has performed well to start the season in Oklahoma City, as Smoker has been tagged for 14 runs on 20 hits and nine walks with 11 strikeouts in 14 innings of work thus far. Carrera, meanwhile, is hitting .172/.250/.207 — albeit through just 32 plate appearances over the course of 10 games.
Smoker, 30, spent the 2018 campaign with the Pirates and Tigers, pitching to a strong 3.38 ERA in with a 50-to-16 K/BB ratio in 45 1/3 innings of Triple-A ball. He allowed seven runs in 7 1/3 innings at the MLB level, however. Smoker averaged 95 mph on his fastball in 71 2/3 big league innings from 2016-17 with the Mets, but his heater dipped a couple miles per hour in last year’s brief stint.
Carrera, 31, has tallied more than four years of MLB service time across parts of seven big league seasons but hasn’t been in the Majors since 2017 with the Blue Jays. He’s a career .262/.324/.365 hitter with 19 homers, 45 doubles, nine triples and 44 steals through 508 games and just over 1300 MLB plate appearances. He’s logged at least 740 innings at all three outfield positions over the course of his Major League career.
Giants Select Contract Of Mac Williamson
7:54pm: It seems that Williamson’s promotion will come with the expectation of regular at-bats. Giants president of baseball operations said prior to tonight’s game that the Giants are “committed” to giving Williamson an opportunity to play every day this time around (Twitter link via Pavlovic).
The San Francisco organization has cycled through seven left fielders already. Gerardo Parra, Yangervis Solarte, Tyler Austin, Mike Gerber, Connor Joe, Michael Reed and Brandon Belt have all seen action at the position. Parra, Solarte, Joe and Reed have all been designated for assignment (with Solarte being the most recent of the bunch, earlier this afternoon). On the whole, Giants left fielders have put together an astonishingly bad .162/.225/.223 batting line through 142 plate appearances.
9:13am: The Giants are slated to bring outfielder Mac Williamson back onto the MLB roster, according to Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. He’ll join the club in Colorado today after launching three long balls last night in Sacramento.
Williamson was bumped from the 40-man roster late in spring as the Giants reorganized their outfield. He landed at Triple-A after clearing waivers. It was hard to argue with that decision at the time. Williamson had struggled last year after dealing with concussion issues and had never really run with his chances in the big leagues. At 28 years of age and out of options, Williamson ran out of time.
Circumstances have changed in the intervening month. There has been turnover already at the MLB level, in recognition of the fact that the Giants have one of the least-productive outfield units in the game. Williamson, meanwhile, has mashed at Triple-A. We’ve seen this act before, including a torrid stretch last year at the highest level of the minors (and, quite briefly, in the majors). But that doesn’t mean it isn’t intriguing. Through 98 plate appearances, he’s slashing .378/.459/.756 with nine home runs and a 13.3% walk rate.
This move likely would’ve been made sooner but for the fact that Williamson did not have a 40-man roster spot. But there’s not much to lose at this point, given the uninspiring output of several current players and the Giants’ cellar-dwelling status in the NL West.
Outrighted: Butera, Hanson
Here are Tuesday’s minor moves from around the game…
- Veteran backstop Drew Butera cleared waivers and was assigned outright to Triple-A Albuquerque, per a club announcement from the Rockies. While Butera could have rejected the assignment in favor of free agency, The Athletic’s Nick Groke tweets that the 35-year-old will accept the assignment and remain in the organization. Butera went 3-for-17 in his brief run with the Rox this season and has never hit much in the Majors aside from an outlier 2016 campaign with the Royals. In 1364 trips to the plate at the MLB level, Butera owns a .201/.258/.299 slash with 19 home runs. However, he’s long been regarded as a quality defender behind the plate and has carved out a decade-long career at the big league level as a result of his glovework. Should the Rockies incur an injury to either Chris Iannetta or Tony Wolters later this season, Butera will quite likely get a call back to the big leagues.
- The Blue Jays announced that infielder/outfielder Alen Hanson has cleared waivers and been assigned to Triple-A Buffalo. Hanson, 26, came over from the Giants in the trade that sent Kevin Pillar to San Francisco, though that trade was driven in large part by salary and Hanson wasn’t necessarily viewed as a long-term piece by the Jays. In 48 plate appearance with Toronto, Hanson hit .163/.229/.163, and while it’s a tiny sample, he’s never hit much a total of 625 MLB plate appearances. Dating back to his debut with Pittsburgh in 2016, Hanson is a .232/.266/.368 hitter. The former top prospect is a .273/.327/.406 hitter in parts of three Triple-A seasons, and it appears he’ll stay on hand as a depth piece for the Toronto organization.
Gerardo Parra Elects Free Agency
The Giants announced today that veteran outfielder Gerardo Parra elected free agency after clearing waivers. He’s now free to sign with any club.
San Francisco picked up Parra, 32, on a minor league contract this offseason after he’d finished up a three-year contract with the Rockies. Parra did manage a .283 average and a .320 on-base percentage in his three years with Colorado, but he didn’t display much power in that time. He once rated as one of baseball’s premier defenders in the outfield corners and was still above-average over the past couple of seasons, though not to the extent of his peak levels.
The 2019 season has been a miserable one for Parra to this point. Through 97 plate appearances with the Giants, he’s mustered only a .197/.278/.267 batting line with a homer, three doubles and a pair of steals. Parra has never struck out at a 20 percent clip in any single season and has kept his strikeout rate below that threshold once again in 2019, but he also had one of the game’s worst hard-contact rates in 2018 and has seen that dip even further in 2019.
Angels Activate Ohtani, Designate Bourjos, Stratton For Assignment
The Angels have designated outfielder Peter Bourjos and righty Chris Stratton for assignment, per a club announcement. They’ll make way for a trio of newly activated players: designated hitter Shohei Ohtani, infielder Zack Cozart, and reliever Cody Allen. Infielder Luis Rengifo was optioned out for active roster space.
Notably, it sounds as though Ohtani will step in as the Angels’ everyday designated hitter, regardless of whether the team is facing a right- or left-handed starter (Twitter link via Mike DiGiovanna of the L.A. Times), which will cut into the playing time of both Justin Bour and Albert Pujols. Ohtani is in the lineup hitting third tonight, and if he can come anywhere near last season’s .285/.361/.64 slash line, he’ll provide a massive boost.
Bourjos, 32, had a homecoming of sorts when he signed a minor league pact with the Angels this offseason. The Halos selected him in the 10th round of the 2005 draft, and he made his big league debut with the club a half decade later when he emerged in 2010. His playing time in his second stint with his original organization was sparse, however, and Bourjos ultimately hit just .091/.109/.144 in 46 trips to the plate.
Stratton, meanwhile, was acquired in Spring Training in the hopes of providing another arm in a perennially injured rotation mix, but the former Giants first-rounder has struggled enormously in his brief tenure with the Angels. In 29 1/3 innings, Stratton has been tattooed for 28 runs on 43 hits (six home runs) and 18 walks with 22 strikeouts. He’s out of minor league options, so the Angels didn’t have the choice of simply sending him to Triple-A.
The Angels will have a week to trade, release or outright Bourjos and Stratton, though the former isn’t likely to generate much trade interest. If the Angels hope to keep him in the organization in Triple-A, they can send Bourjos through outright waivers, though a veteran with his service time has the right to reject any such assignment. That’s not the case with Stratton, so if the Angels don’t find a trade partner, they could run him through outright waivers and retain him if he clears.
Giants To Select Contract Of Donovan Solano
The Giants are preparing to select the contract of utilityman Donovan Solano, according to Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area (via Twitter). He joined the organization on a minors deal over the winter.
That’ll force another 40-man move to go with the one needed for outfielder Mac Williamson. With another pitcher also slated to come onto the active roster — Williams Jerez could get the nod — there will be at least three changes to the makeup of the current MLB club.
This has all the makings of a rather significant shake-up for a team in transition. The Giants are in last place in the NL West, with a 15-20 record. That’s hardly surprising given the awkward state of the team’s roster, which includes a group of high-priced veterans and a variety of unestablished younger players.
Solano, 31, will make it up to the majors for the first time since 2016. He hit well at Triple-A last year with the Dodgers organization before following top baseball operations executive Farhan Zaidi to San Francisco. Solano has turned in a nice .322/.392/.437 batting line in 97 plate appearances to open the current season with the Giants’ top affiliate.