Padres Outright Allen Cordoba, Release Colin Rea
The Padres announced that infielder Allen Cordoba has been sent outright to Triple-A El Paso after clearing waivers. Right-hander Colin Rea, who also cleared waivers, has been released by the organization. San Diego also formally announced the previously reported releases of Cory Spangenberg and Christian Villanueva, the latter of whom is headed to Japan’s Yomiuri Giants on a one-year deal.
Cordoba, 22, was a Rule 5 pick by the Padres back in 2016 and stuck on the 2017 roster all season despite the fact that he’d never played a game above the Rookie-level Applachian League. Unsurprisingly, his struggles in the big leagues were immense; Cordoba hit just .208/.282/.297 through 227 trips to the plate. He’s yet to recover from the sizable jump up the development ladder, it seems, as he managed just a .206/.233/.310 slash in an admittedly small sample of 145 PAs at the Class-A Advanced level in 2018. He’ll remain with the Padres despite being removed from the 40-man roster, which in many ways is a good outcome for San Diego. While the Friars surely hoped for better production in the minors once he was eligible to be optioned, they can now continue to develop the Panamanian shortstop without a dedicated 40-man spot.
As for Rea, the right-hander hasn’t pitched in the Majors since 2016. San Diego sent him to the Marlins in a controversial trade involving Andrew Cashner and Luis Castillo. Rea made one appearance in Miami before it was learned that he’d require Tommy John surgery, and the Marlins and trades worked out an agreement to send Rea back to San Diego in exchange for Luis Castillo (who later went on to be traded to Cincinnati for Dan Straily).
Rea, now 28, didn’t pitch at all in 2017 as he rehabbed from surgery. He returned to the mound in 2018 but didn’t find any success in Double-A or Triple-A, limping to a combined 5.73 ERA with 8.4 K/9, 4.3 BB/9, 1.67 HR/9 and a roughly 41 percent ground-ball rate in 75 1/3 innings. Prior to his elbow surgery, Rea totaled 134 1/3 big league innings between San Diego and his lone Marlins appearance, working to a 4.69 ERA with a 106-to-55 K/BB ratio. His career 4.35 FIP is a bit more favorable, but both xFIP (4.55) and SIERA (4.67) are right in line with his career earned run average.
Rea has two-plus years of MLB service time, so if a new organization can get him back on track, he’d come with another four seasons of MLB control. Presumably, he’ll draw interest on minor league deals from pitching-needy organizations this winter.
Minor MLB Transactions: 11/25/18
Keeping track of the latest minor moves from around baseball…
- Japan’s Yokohama BayStars have re-signed right-hander Spencer Patton to a two-year, $3MM guarantee with up to $1MM in incentives, Robert Murray of The Athletic tweets. A fifth-round pick of the Royals in 2011, Patton saw limited action with the Rangers (2014-15) and Cubs (2016) earlier in his professional career. Now 30 years old, Patton immigrated to Japan prior to the 2017 season and has since recorded sterling numbers – a 2.64 ERA with 10.3 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 – over 116 innings.
- The Giants have signed righty Kieran Lovegrove to a minor league deal, per Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com. San Francisco’s the second organization for the 24-year-old Lovegrove, who had been in Cleveland’s system since it selected him in the third round of the 2012 draft. The hard-throwing, South African-born Lovegrove spent most of last season at the Double-A level, where he pitched to a 3.46 ERA with 8.77 K/9 and 6.23 BB/9 in 39 frames. FanGraphs’ David Laurila profiled and interviewed Lovegrove earlier this month.
Minor MLB Transactions: 11/23/18
Here are the day’s minor moves:
- Indy ball flamethrower Taylor Grover will get a shot with the Reds after signing a minor-league deal, C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic writes on Twitter. Grover was a tenth-round pick of the Red Sox, but never made it past the Double-A level and found himself out of the affiliated ranks this year. The 27-year-old responded with an eyebrow-raising campaign in which he not only worked into the triple digits with his fastball but pitched to a 2.55 ERA with 11.9 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9 over 53 frames split between the American Association and Atlantic League.
Padres Release Cory Spangenberg
The Padres have released infielder Cory Spangenberg on the heels of this week’s DFA, as first reflected on the MLB.com transactions list. He’s now a free agent and is eligible to sign with any team.
The 27-year-old former first-round pick (No. 10 overall, 2011) debuted with the Friars back in 2014 and has spent parts of the past five seasons in the San Diego infield mix. However, after a mostly promising start to his career — .274/.330/.408, 107 OPS+ in 410 plate appearances from 2014-15 — Spangenberg’s bat has fallen off. He’s batted .251/.312/.384 (88 OPS+) through 868 big league PAs from 2016-18. The 2018 season, in particular, was tough on Spangenberg, as his OBP dipped below .300 and his strikeout rate soared to 32.8 percent.
Spangenberg has more than 1000 innings of MLB experience at both second base and third base, though he hasn’t graded out as a plus defender at either. Both Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating peg him as roughly a scratch defender at second but a below-average third baseman.
The left-handed-hitting Spangenberg has been a solid bat against right-handed pitching throughout his career (.271/.331/.423), and paired with his respectable glovework at second base, he could at the very least function as a useful platoon piece in that role. Spangenberg won’t turn 28 until next March, though, so it’s certainly not out of the question that a change of scenery could help him tap into the potential he demonstrated earlier in his career. Any team that signs Spangenberg could control him through the 2020 season if he’s able to bounce back next year, as he’d remain arbitration-eligible next winter.
Dodgers Release Erik Goeddel, Zac Rosscup
The Dodgers released right-hander Erik Goeddel and left-hander Zac Rosscup, tweets Ken Gurnick of MLB.com. Both pitchers were designated for assignment earlier this week as the Dodgers worked to set their 40-man roster before the deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 Draft.
Goeddel, 30 next month, quietly enjoyed a nice year split between the Mariners and Dodgers, pitching to a combined 2.95 ERA with 10.8 K/9, 4.9 BB/9, 1.0 HR/9 and a 44.8 percent ground-ball rate in 36 2/3 innings of work. He also did an excellent job of limiting hard contact (23.3 percent, per Statcast) while posting a swinging-strike rate (15.8 percent) and a chase rate (37.4 percent) that were vastly better than the league average (10.7 percent and 30.9 percent, respectively).
That said, Goeddel’s control was clearly a problem, as he walked 20 batters, hit another and threw three wild pitches in those 36 2/3 frames. Goeddel also posted below-average spin rates on both his four-seamer and his curveball, and he was projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $900K in his first winter of arbitration eligibility. Any team adding Goeddel would have the ability to control him through the 2021 season.
The 30-year-old Rosscup was claimed off waivers out of the Rockies organization in July and pitched 11 1/3 innings out of the L.A. ‘pen thereafter. He was tagged for six earned runs in that time but also posted a terrific 20-to-4 K/BB ratio in that time. Rosscup, who threw his slider at a 50 percent clip in this year’s small sample of work, posted a massive 19.5 percent swinging-strike rate and a 37.9 percent chase rate. However, he also yielded a 43.5 percent hard-hit rate (via Statcast).
Rosscup has overwhelmed lefties throughout his career, holding same-handed opponents to a .138/.266/.275 slash. On the other side of the coin, righties have utterly clobbered him, hitting .317/.389/.634 in parts of five big league seasons. Like Goeddel, he has three-plus years of big league service and can technically be controlled through the 2021 seasons by any organization that adds him.
KBO/NPB Signings: Sands, Brigham, Jokisch, Wilson, Kelly, Neal, Hoying
Some updates on former big leaguers headed to play in Asia….
Latest News
- The KBO’s Nexen Heroes have re-signed outfielder Jerry Sands and right-hander Jake Brigham, as per San Kang of Sports Dong-A on Twitter (hat tip to MyKBO.net’s Dan Kurtz). Left-hander Eric Jokisch has also signed with the team. According to a follow-up tweet from Kurtz, Brigham will earn $900K in salary and incentives, while Sands and Jokisch will each receive $500K from the Heroes. Sands just joined the Heroes back in August, after 11 seasons in North America that saw him appear in 156 MLB games with the White Sox, Indians, Rays, and Dodgers. Brigham will return to Nexen for the third straight season, after pitching in Japan with the Rakuten Golden Eagles in 2016. Jokisch was an 11th-round pick for the Cubs in 2010 who has bounced around the minors since getting his only taste of Major League action (14 1/3 IP) with Chicago in 2014. The southpaw has a 3.71 ERA, 7.1 K/9, and 2.53 K/BB rate over 1081 1/3 career innings in the minor leagues.
Earlier Today
- The LG Twins of the Korea Baseball Organization have announced the re-signing of right-hander Tyler Wilson and the signing of fellow righty Casey Kelly (Twitter links via Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net and Sung Min Kim of The Athletic and River Ave Blues). The 29-year-old Wilson, whose new contract is worth $1.5MM, thrived during his first season in the hitter-friendly KBO in 2018. Across 26 starts and 170 innings, Wilson pitched to a 3.07 ERA with 7.92 K/9 and 1.89 BB/9. Before immigrating to Korea, Wilson saw action with the Orioles from 2015-17. While Wilson was only a 10th-round pick (2011), Kelly entered the pro ranks as a first-rounder of the Red Sox in 2008 and regularly ranked among the game’s 100 best prospects during the ensuing few years. Boston dealt him to San Diego in a 2011 blockbuster which also featured Adrian Gonzalez and Anthony Rizzo, but Kelly never broke out with the Padres, thanks in part to 2013 Tommy John surgery. Kelly ended up accruing a mere 40 1/3 innings with the Padres in parts of two seasons (2012 and ’15), and later combined for another 45 1/3 between the Braves (2016) and Giants (2018). Although Kelly generated decent results last year in San Francisco, where he registered a 3.04 ERA/4.22 FIP with 6.08 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 in 23 innings, the team outrighted him in late October. He’ll earn $1MM with his Korean club.
- The Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan have added righty Zach Neal, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Neal amassed 70 innings as an Oakland Athletic in 2016, his rookie year, but only combined for 15 2/3 with them and the Dodgers from 2017-18. The 30-year-old racked up more trades (two) than MLB innings (one) in 2018, when L.A. dealt Neal to the Reds in April and re-acquired him in a July swap that also netted the Dodgers breakout reliever Dylan Floro. In 85 2/3 MLB innings, Neal has logged a 4.94 ERA/4.84 FIP with minuscule strikeout and walk rates (3.89 K/9, .74 BB/9) and a solid groundball percentage (50.3).
- The Hanwha Eagles of the KBO have re-signed outfielder Jared Hoying for $1.4MM, Kurtz tweets. Hoying, 29, slashed .306/.373/.573 with 30 home runs in 590 plate appearances last year, his first with the Eagles. The lefty-swinger has spent most of his pro career with the Rangers, who selected him in the 10th round of the 2010 draft. Hoying collected 126 PAs with the Rangers from 2016-17 and batted .220/.262/.288 with one homer.
Diamondbacks Sign Rob Refsnyder To Minors Deal
The Diamondbacks have signed utilityman Rob Refsnyder to a minor league contract that contains an invitation to the team’s big league Spring Training camp. The pact was announced by the official Twitter feed of the Reno Aces, the Diamondbacks’ Triple-A affiliate.
Refsnyder was granted free agency after a 2018 season that saw him post a .283/.357/.402 slash line over 208 PA at the Triple-A level in the Rays’ organization, while also appearing in 40 Major League games for the Rays and hitting .167/.314/.274 over 103 PA. The season essentially sums up Refsnyder’s career, as he has hit well at the minor league level but failed to carry that success over across 423 career MLB plate appearances with the Rays, Blue Jays and Yankees from 2015-18.
Refsnyder was once seen as a potential second baseman of the future for New York, though he spent time at second base, first base, both corner outfield slots, and even one inning at third base over his big league career. This versatility will give him a shot at winning a bench job with the D’Backs this spring, especially if Daniel Descalso leaves Arizona for another team in free agency.
Angels To Sign Dustin Garneau To Minors Deal
The Angels have agreed to a minor league contract with catcher Dustin Garneau, MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo reports (Twitter link). The White Sox outrighted Garneau off their 40-man roster after the season, following a year that saw the 31-year-old appear in just a single big league game.
Over the previous three seasons, Garneau saw substantially more action in part-time duty with the Rockies and Athletics, playing in 87 games total from 2015-17. For his career, Garneau has posted a .194/.269/.321 slash line over 280 Major League plate appearances. Originally a 19th-round pick for Colorado in 2011, Garneau has put up solid numbers (.253/.340/.455) over 2675 minor league PA, though he has yet to display that sort of hitting prowess at the MLB level.
Garneau, 31, will now toss his hat into an Angels’ catching mix that currently includes Jose Briceno and Kevan Smith as the only full-time catchers on the 40-man roster. The Halos have been heavily rumored to be targeting catchers this offseason, so it seems likely that Garneau, Briceno, and Smith will be battling for backup duty in Spring Training.
Minor MLB Transactions: 11/22/18
Rounding up some recent minor league transactions from around the baseball world….
- The Marlins have signed outfielder Gabriel Guerrero to a minor league deal, as Guerrero announced on his personal Instagram page. The 24-year-old has bounced around the farm systems of the Mariners, Diamondbacks, and Reds during his eight-year pro career, finally cracking the big leagues in 2018 by appearing in 14 games for Cincinnati. He was outrighted off the Reds’ 40-man roster in October, paving the way for another trip to free agency. Guerrero has a .273/.314/.413 slash line and 80 home runs over 3612 PA in the minors, showing glimpses of potential but never really establishing himself as a top-tier prospect.
- The White Sox re-signed first baseman Matt Skole to a minors deal, as per Baseball America’s Matt Eddy. Originally a fifth-round pick for the Nationals in the 2011 draft and a noteworthy prospect in Washington’s farm system, injuries hampered Skole’s progress, and he didn’t make his MLB debut until last season. After joining Chicago’s organization as a minor league free agent last winter, Skole appeared in four games for the Sox and accumulated 13 plate appearances, before being outrighted following the season. The 29-year-old Skole has a career .250/.356/.441 slash line and 116 homers over 3284 career PA in the minors.
- Also from Eddy, the Mariners signed infielder Orlando Calixte to a minors pact. Calixte spent all of 2018 at the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate before electing to become a free agent after the season. Calixte has been a shortstop for much of his nine-year professional career, though he has also seen significant time as a second and third baseman, and in all three outfield spots. This versatility helped him reach the majors in 2015 (two games with the Royals) and 2017 (29 games with the Giants) despite only hitting a modest .249/.303/.385 over 3628 PA in the minors.
Rangers Claim Jack Reinheimer; Outright Eddie Butler, Ronald Herrera
Nov. 22: Butler has rejected his outright assignment and will instead enter free agency, according to Gerry Fraley of SportsDay. Acquired as part of the return for Cole Hamels, Butler’s departure leaves the Rangers with just two players from the Hamels trade still under team control.
Nov. 20: The Rangers announced Tuesday that they’ve claimed infielder Jack Reinheimer off waivers from the Cubs and also outrighted Eddie Butler and Ronald Herrera to Triple-A Nashville after the pair of righties cleared waivers.
Reinheimer, 26, has just 40 big league plate appearances under his belt, most of which came with the Mets in 2018. He’s batted just .143/.250/.143 in the Majors but can play all over the infield. He’s spent parts of three seasons in Triple-A, hitting .278/.343/.371 in 1376 PAs — rather timid production given the hitter-friendly nature of the Pacific Coast League. Reinheimer does have a minor league option remaining, so he can give Texas some infield depth next season.
Butler, 28 in March, was knocked around for a 5.62 ERA in 49 2/3 innings between the Cubs and Rangers in 2018. Texas acquired him as a secondary piece in the trade that sent Cole Hamels to Chicago, but the one-time premium prospect didn’t fare well in his limited time in the big leagues with the Rangers. Butler, the 46th overall pick by the Rockies in 2012, has a career 5.80 ERA in 263 2/3 innings.
Herrera, 23, was traded from the Yankees to the Rangers one year ago to the day in a move intended to create some roster flexibility in New York with the Nov. 20 deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 Draft looming. He didn’t pitch in 2018, though, after experiencing shoulder troubles in Spring Training and ultimately requiring surgery to repair the flexor tendon in his right arm.