Minor MLB Transactions: 5/6/19
Here are the day’s minor moves from around the game:
- Catcher Brett Nicholas announced today that he’s hanging up his spikes. He had been with the White Sox organization on a minors deal. The 30-year-old Nicholas was selected by the Rangers in the sixth-round of the 2010 draft. He remained with the Texas organization through the 2017 campaign. Nicholas appeared briefly in the bigs with the Rangers in parts of two seasons. In 110 total plate appearances, he posted a .252/.300/.456 slash. Nicholas was typically a sturdy offensive producer in the minors, but never inspired quite enough confidence with the glove to earn a lengthy showing at the game’s highest level.
- The Rockies have added a pair of 29-year-old hurlers from the indy ball ranks, per announcements from their former teams. Righty Tim Melville comes to the Colorado organization from the Long Island Ducks, while southpaw Pat Dean had been with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. Melville has briefly reached the big leagues. He spent all of 2018 at the Triple-A level with the Orioles, working to a 5.33 ERA in 104 2/3 innings in a swingman capacity. Dean received a 67 1/3-inning opportunity with the Twins in 2016 but scuffled to a 6.28 ERA. He spent camp this year with the Minnesota organization after a two-year KBO stint.
Red Sox Place David Price On Injured List, Select Ryan Weber
7:38pm: It seems there’s not much concern that Price is dealing with a significant injury, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com was among those to report. Price calls it “nothing,” though he declined to say how long he had been dealing with the issue and there’s no clear timeline for his return.
10:52am: The Red Sox announced Monday that they’ve placed lefty David Price on the 10-day injured list due to tendinitis in his left elbow. Right-hander Ryan Weber‘s contract has been selected from Triple-A Pawtucket, and he’ll replace Price on the active roster for the time being. Boston had an opening on its 40-man roster, so there are no additional corresponding moves needed.
Price, 33, has gotten out to a solid start in 2019, logging a 3.75 ERA with a 10.5 K/9 mark that would be a career-best in a full season and a 2.5 BB/9 mark that would be his lowest since signing in Boston. He’s been one of the steadiest arms in a surprisingly vulnerable Red Sox rotation, but he’ll now join fellow starter Nathan Eovaldi on the shelf. Price’s placement on the IL is retroactive to May 3, so he could be eligible to return in as little as a week, though Boston’s press release made no mention of how long Price is expected to sit out with the elbow ailment.
In his place, Boston will turn to longtime Braves farmhand Weber — a 28-year-old who spent the 2017-18 seasons with the Mariners and Rays, respectively. Weber has a 5.01 ERA in 73 2/3 frames at the big league level, but he owns a lifetime 2.61 ERA in 307 1/3 innings of Triple-A ball. Weber won’t overpower any opponents — he’s averaged just 90 mph on his fastball in the Majors — but he boasts strong control and ground-ball tendencies in both Triple-A and in the bigs.
White Sox Select Charlie Tilson, Transfer Nate Jones To 60-Day IL
The White Sox announced Monday that they’ve selected the contract of outfielder Charlie Tilson from Triple-A Charlotte and, in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster, transferred righty Nate Jones from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day injured list. Jones, Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times tweets, has a flexor pronator strain in his right forearm. Chicago also reinstated right-hander Ryan Burr from the 10-day IL. Tilson and Burr will take over the active roster spots of center fielder Adam Engel and lefty Caleb Frare, who have each been optioned to Triple-A.
Tilson was once a rather promising outfield prospect for the South Siders (and the Cardinals before them), but he suffered a torn hamstring in his MLB debut in 2016 and missed the remainder of the season. A stress reaction in Tilson’s ankle in 2017 ultimately resulted in an ankle fracture in 2017, limiting Tilson to just seven games in the Arizona Fall League. His 2018 campaign was a disappointment both in Triple-A and in more limited MLB action, and Tilson was ultimately outrighted off the 40-man roster.
This season, however, the 26-year-old is off to a blistering start in Charlotte. Through 111 trips to the plate, Tilson has raked at a .333/.396/.475 pace with a homer, seven doubles, two triples and three steals. His .410 average on balls in play is a clear indicator of some impending regression, but Tilson is walking at a career-best 10 percent clip and collecting more extra-base hits at a career-high rate as well. Given that Engel has posted a dreadful .207/.262/.316 slash in 857 big league plate appearances dating back to 2017, there’s little harm in seeing if Tilson can provide a meaningful upgrade.
As for Jones, the injury is the latest in a long line of maladies for the talented 33-year-old. There’s little debating that a healthy version of Jones is a potential wipeout reliever; in his past 141 2/3 innings in the Majors, he’s pitched to a 2.67 ERA and averaged ten and a half strikeouts per nine innings pitched while averaging nearly 97 mph on his fastball. Unfortunately for both Jones and the White Sox, those 141 2/3 innings have been scattered across five seasons, 2019 included, because of arm troubles. Most notably, he missed the 2014 season due to Tommy John surgery and then underwent surgery to re-position the ulnar nerve in his right arm in 2017. There’s no clear timetable for his return right now, but he was placed on the 10-day IL on April 28, meaning he’ll be sidelined for at least 60 days from that point forth.
Mets To Acquire Wilmer Font
The Mets have reached an agreement to acquire right-handed reliever Wilmer Font from the Rays in exchange for cash or a player to be named later, MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo reports (via Twitter). Font, 29 later this month, is out of minor league options, so he’ll have to be added directly to the big league bullpen.
Font has worked as both an opener and a reliever over the past two seasons between the Dodgers, A’s and Rays. He’s not found much success at the MLB level, with a career 6.51 ERA in 65 innings of work. However, he’s shown enough that four clubs have been willing to commit a 40-man roster spot over the past calendar year. Font has averaged 94.3 mph on his heater in his MLB career, complementing that offering with an 83.2 mph slider and a 75.5 mph curveball.
It should be noted, too, that the Mets are likely in somewhat of a scramble to find arms to fill out their big league staff. Left-hander Steven Matz is dealing with a nerve issue that’ll likely sideline him for at least one start, as MLB Network’s Jon Heyman recently tweeted. On the heels of that report, SNY’s Andy Martino followed up by tweeting that Jason Vargas is also likely to head to the injured list with a minor hamstring injury. He may only miss one start, and the Mets won’t need a fifth starter for nearly two weeks, but it’s nonetheless another arm soon to be rendered unavailable.
Rays Option Yarbrough, Recall Velazquez
The Rays have sent down lefty Ryan Yarbrough in favor of infielder Andrew Velazquez, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.
Yarbrough, 27, was recalled yesterday following an April 24th demotion, but was not needed given the postponement of the Rays’ Sunday tilt in Baltimore. Yarbrough has been scored upon in four of his five appearances this year, resulting in an 8.10 ERA in 16 2/3 frames. He’ll head back to Triple-A Durham following a 2018 season that resulted in a fifth place Rookie of the Year finish, with a lone vote from Dick Scanlon of the Lakeland Ledger. Scanlon’s was the only Rookie of the Year ballot to omit Shohei Ohtani. Last year, Yarbrough was able to rack up 16 wins serving as the Rays’ self-termed “bulk guy” or primary pitcher, the hurler who follows the team’s opener. In this capacity, Yarbrough made 32 relief appearances, averaging about 3.7 innings each time.
Velazquez, 24, made his big league debut for the Rays last year as a September call-up. According to the Baseball America Handbook, Velazquez’s “ability to play an excellent center field, second, shortstop, or third base makes him a useful utility-man.” Indeed, Velazquez has logged innings at all of those positions for the Durham Bulls. A seventh round pick of the Diamondbacks in 2012, Velazquez was shipped along with Justin Williams to the Rays for Jeremy Hellickson in November 2014.
The Rays, currently owners of the best record in baseball, will move to a 12-man pitching staff for the time being. This puts the Rays in the minority for the American League, where two-thirds of clubs run with a 13-man pitching staff at the moment.
Giants Claim Andrew Moore, Designate Breyvic Valera
The Giants have claimed right-hander Andrew Moore off waivers from the Rays, according to Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic (Twitter link). Moore will report to San Francisco’s Double-A affiliate in Richmond. To create a 40-man roster spot for Moore, the Giants have also designated infielder Breyvic Valera for assignment.
Valera’s stint on the Giants’ 40-man roster has come to an end before he appeared in a game with the team, which acquired Valera in January when he was designated by the Orioles. In 24 games at Triple-A this season, Valera has posted a .257/.397/.338 slash line, including an impressive 16-to-10 BB:K ratio. The 27-year-old Valera has made only 86 MLB plate appearances and has produced a .529 OPS across parts of the last two seasons, which he spent with the Cardinals, Dodgers, and Orioles.
Moore has appeared in only 11 games in the Major Leagues — nine starts with the Mariners in 2017 — posting a 5.34 ERA in those games. Triple-A has not treated him well this season, as Moore has conceded 9 home runs in 17 1/3 innings while walking as many batters as he has struck out. Moore, a former second-round selection of the Mariners, was recently DFA’d by the Rays, but will hope to make a home in San Francisco. He is just 24 years old and is not far removed from successful seasons in the minors in 2016 and 2017.
Dodgers To Sign Travis d’Arnaud
The Dodgers have agreed to a one-year deal with catcher Travis d’Arnaud, tweets Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times. Castillo adds via Twitter that infielder Matt Beaty has been optioned to Triple-A to make room for the former Mets backstop, who was released Friday after he was designated for assignment. Because he was released, his former club is on the hook for all of the $3.515MM contract he signed in the offseason, while the Dodgers will pay him at the league-minimum rate.
For the time being, the Dodgers will move forward with a trio of catchers on the active roster, with d’Arnaud joining Austin Barnes and Russell Martin in Los Angeles. That combination has provided the Dodgers with solid production, so don’t expect d’Arnaud to supplant either incumbent behind the plate. Interestingly, though, manager Dave Roberts said that he plans to deploy d’Arnaud not only as a catcher, but also in the infield and outfield. In his 7-year Major League career, d’Arnaud has never played the outfield and has appeared in just one game at both second and third base. Of course, both Martin and Barnes have experience playing the infield, so perhaps they are more viable candidates to move into a utility role.
With outfielder A.J. Pollock undergoing elbow surgery after he was placed on the 10-day IL, manager Dave Roberts and company found themselves in need of an additional right-handed bat. Without Pollock, the Dodgers’ starting outfield consists of Cody Bellinger, Joc Pederson, and Alex Verdugo, all lefties. Chris Taylor is the only other bench bat capable of playing the outfield, so the addition of d’Arnaud could afford Roberts additional flexibility to rest his lefty bats against southpaws: Taylor and Enrique Hernandez could slide to the outfield, with one of Barnes, Martin, and d’Arnaud filling an infield spot. This would allow for righty-dominant lineups with a host of left-handed batters available off the bench.
His new club will look for d’Arnaud to return to the form he showed in the 2015 season, when he hit 12 home runs in just 67 games to go along with a career-best .825 OPS. Notably, d’Arnaud has played more than 100 games in a season just twice in his career. Injuries have represented a repeated source of frustration for the veteran, including last year, when a partial UCL tear cost him all but 4 games of his age-29 campaign. Perhaps the Dodgers hope that reducing the number of innings d’Arnaud spends behind the plate will reduce his risk of injury and allow him to contribute throughout the year.
Regardless, it’s a low-risk transaction for the Dodgers, who have to spend virtually nothing to get a player who could pay dividends if he proves capable of playing several positions while hitting capably. If A.J. Pollock returns from injury in a timely fashion or d’Arnaud doesn’t pan out, the Dodgers aren’t obligated to keep him around, with Barnes and Martin holding down the fort behind the plate.
Reds Select Josh VanMeter
SUNDAY: Cincinnati has announced VanMeter’s promotion. The club made room for him by optioning lefty Cody Reed.
SATURDAY: The Reds will select infielder Josh VanMeter‘s contract from Triple-A Louisville, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports. VanMeter’s promotion will give the Reds a full man 40-man roster.
VanMeter has made a case for a call-up by serving as one of the minors’ best hitters and the International League leader in OPS early this season. Thus far, the 24-year-old has slashed a remarkable .346/.432/.757 (191 wRC+) with 13 home runs, five stolen bases and 15 walks against 23 strikeouts in 126 plate appearances. The lefty-swinging VanMeter was also effective in his first Triple-A exposure last year, albeit with numbers that pale in comparison to this season’s eye-popping output, as he hit .253/.309/.464 (114 wRC+) with 11 homers and five steals across 362 PA.
Despite his excellence in 2019, no outlet ranks VanMeter among the Reds’ top farmhands. Back in January 2018, FanGraphs prospect guru Eric Longenhagen wrote that emerging as a versatile bench piece may be VanMeter’s “absolute ceiling” in the majors. VanMeter has played first, second and third this year alone, and has also garnered significant experience at shortstop and in the outfield since the Padres chose him in the fifth round of the 2013 draft. He later joined the Reds in a December 2016 trade for catcher Luis Torrens, who debuted in the majors in 2017 but is currently in Double-A.
Brewers Select Burch Smith, Designate Jay Jackson
The Brewers have selected right-hander Burch Smith from Triple-A San Antonio, designated righty Jay Jackson for assignment and optioned righty Taylor Williams, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com tweets.
Smith will provide pitching depth in the wake of the Brewers’ 18-inning marathon victory over the Mets on Saturday, when Williams threw four frames of one-run ball. It’ll be the first time the 29-year-old Smith has suited up for Milwaukee, which signed him to a minor league deal in January.
Previously a member of the Padres and Royals at the big league level, Smith owns an ugly 6.77 ERA/5.41 FIP with 9.68 K/9 and 4.6 BB/9 in 114 1/3 innings – a career-high 78 of which came with Kansas City in 2018. The former Tommy John surgery patient opened this season with a sparking 1.37 ERA and 9.23 K/9 against 3.76 BB/9 across 26 1/3 innings in the Brewers’ system, though ERA estimators FIP (3.74) and xFIP (5.48) have been far less bullish on Smith’s work.
As MLBTR’s Steve Adams detailed when the Brewers promoted Jackson on April 29, the 31-year-old endured a long journey back to the majors. Unfortunately, Jackson totaled just 2 1/3 innings before the Brewers booted him from their 40-man. He yielded five earned runs on four hits, including two homers, along the way.
Jake Peavy Retires
Right-hander Jake Peavy last pitched professionally in 2016, and though he was angling to return to the majors last summer, that attempt has come to an end. Recent reports from Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe and Scott Miller of Bleacher Report indicate the 37-year-old Peavy has decided to hang up his cleats.
Peavy spent his final two-plus seasons in San Francisco, but his peak came as the ace of NL West rival San Diego’s staff. In a move that ranks among the wisest in franchise history, the Padres used a 15th-round pick in 1999 on Peavy, who debuted in 2002. Just two years later, he emerged as one of the majors’ premier pitchers.
During a 1,050-inning run in San Diego from 2004-09, Peavy pitched to a 3.02 ERA/3.16 FIP with 9.44 K/9 against 2.74 BB/9 and helped the Padres to their two most recent playoff berths (2005-06). He also earned a pair of All-Star nods and twice led the National League in both ERA and strikeouts in that period, during which he accumulated the majors’ fifth-highest fWAR among starters (26.4). Only luminaries Johan Santana, CC Sabathia, Roy Oswalt and Roy Halladay outdid Peavy in that category.
In the crowning personal achievement of his career, Peavy beat out Oswalt and others for the NL Cy Young Award in 2007, when he fired 223 1/3 innings of 2.54 ERA/2.84 FIP ball, amassed 240 strikeouts and led all big league pitchers in fWAR (6.7). It was the third straight season of at least 200 innings for Peavy, who exceeded that mark twice more later in his career.
Peavy was unquestionably the Padres’ most valuable player during his seven-plus years in their uniform. However, his reign in San Diego came to an end in August 2009 when the non-contenders traded him to the White Sox for Clayton Richard, Aaron Poreda, Dexter Carter and Adam Russell.
Save for Richard, who had a long but unspectacular run in San Diego, no one from that group panned out for the Padres. Meanwhile, despite Peavy’s presence, the White Sox never secured a playoff berth during his stint with the franchise. It didn’t help that Peavy often battled injuries throughout his tenure as a member of the White Sox, with whom his numbers declined. Still, he did log a respectable 4.00 ERA/3.70 FIP in 537 2/3 frames with the Pale Hose and pick up his third and final All-Star appearance with the club in 2012.
In July 2013, a year after his last truly great season, Peavy changed Sox when Chicago dealt him to Boston in a three-team, seven-player trade that also included Detroit. Peavy wasn’t any kind of rotation savior by then, but he was still a solid starter whose acquisition paid dividends for the Red Sox during their run to a World Series championship that season. However, Boston couldn’t defend its title in 2014, a season in which it nosedived in the standings and ended up dealing Peavy to the Giants for pitchers Edwin Escobar and Heath Hembree.
For the second straight season, Peavy was a midsummer acquisition for a franchise that went on to a championship. Peavy gave the 2014 Giants the vintage version of himself in terms of run prevention over 78 2/3 regular-season innings (2.17 ERA), and he helped the club to NLDS and NLCS victories. Although Peavy struggled in both of his World Series starts, a pair of losses to the Royals, the Giants nonetheless triumphed in a seven-game classic. They then brought back Peavy on a two-year, $24MM contract, which will go down as the last deal of his career. While Peavy pitched well in the first of those seasons, injuries held him to 110 2/3 innings. He was only able to manage another 118 2/3 frames in 2016, a career-worst campaign that included a demotion to the Giants’ bullpen.
Although Peavy’s time in the majors didn’t end on a high note, he enjoyed a prolific career that most pitchers would sign up for without a second thought. Along with his personal and team awards, Peavy registered a 152-126 record, 2,207 strikeouts and a 3.63 ERA/3.65 FIP in 2,377 innings en route to 44.1 fWAR/37.5 rWAR and upward of $127MM in earnings. MLBTR congratulates Peavy on an outstanding career and wishes him the best in his post-playing days.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.