Minor MLB Transactions: 10/28/18
The latest minor league moves from around baseball…
- The Diamondbacks have re-signed first baseman Cody Decker and right-hander Kevin McCanna to minor league contracts and assigned them both to Triple-A Reno, as per the Reno affiliate’s official Twitter feed (links here). The 31-year-old Decker will return for his second season in Arizona’s organization, after hitting .261/.351/.503 over 191 combined PA at the Triple-A and Double-A levels in 2018. McCanna, 24, posted a 3.84 ERA, 9.2 K/9, and a 3.00 K/BB rate over 70 1/3 combined innings at A-ball and high-A ball, starting 13 of his 14 games before injuries sidelined him in late June.
Marlins Outright Bryan Holaday, Drew Rucinski, Miguel Del Pozo
Marlins’ backup catcher Bryan Holaday and reliever Drew Rucinski have been outrighted to Triple-A New Orleans, per the Sun Sentinel’s Wells Dusenbury. Rucinski has elected free agency.
The 30-year-old Holaday has appeared in the big leagues with the Tigers, Rangers, Red Sox, and Marlins since 2012. The veteran backstop has mostly been an emergency catching option, highlighted by an ALDS appearance for the 2014 Tigers, catching four innings to close out a Game 3 loss to Baltimore. That season was also his most prolific in the majors, appearing in 62 games for Detroit. This season, however, was a close second: 166 PA across 61 games, slashing .205/.261/.258 for the fish.
The 29-year-old Rucinski was serviceable in 32 appearances out of the Marlins’ bullpen in 2018 (0.1 fWAR, -0.6 rWAR), but there’s little to indicate he’ll be much more than an extra arm moving forward. Relying on a 6-pitch mix, Rucinski leans heavily on his cutter, which averaged 90.1 mph, per statcast. The right-hander finished 4-2 in 35.1 innings with a 4.33 ERA (4.76 xFIP).
Left-handed pitcher Miguel Del Pozo was also outrighted today, the team announced (via Twitter). Del Pozo spent 2018 in Double-A, but the Marlins have given themselves some extra breathing room, creating nine open spots on their 40-man roster with the removal of Holaday, Rucinski, and Del Pozo.
White Sox Outright Danny Farquhar, Rob Scahill, Ryan LaMarre
The White Sox announced that outfielder Ryan LaMarre and right-handers Danny Farquhar and Rob Scahill have been outrighted to Triple-A Charlotte after clearing waivers. All three will become free agents.
Farquhar will garner the most attention of the trio, as the 31-year-old endured a terrifying brain aneurysm in the White Sox’ dugout earlier this season and was subsequently rushed to the hospital. Farquhar required emergency surgery and, to the relief of teammates, fans and players throughout the league was discharged from the hospital a few weeks later. He ultimately made an emotional return to the clubhouse to visit his teammates, who honored him by hanging his jersey in the bullpen during his absence, the day after being released from the hospital. And on June 1, the ChiSox invited Farquhar to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Suffice it to say, Farquhar’s baseball future is somewhat up in the air. He didn’t throw a pitch in the Majors after suffering the aneurysm, though his neurosurgeon said at the time of his release from the hospital that it was possible the right-hander would be able to pitch again in future seasons. Given his uncertain future and a projected $1.4MM salary in arbitration, it was only logical for the Sox to make the roster cut from a business standpoint. It does seem there’s a chance that Farquhar and the others could return to the organization.
“We do plan to continue to stay in touch with these players and their representatives over the coming months to see if it makes sense for any of them to remain with our organization as we head into the 2019 season,” general manager Rick Hahn told reporters (Twitter link via Scott Merkin of MLB.com).
Scahill, 32 in February, pitched five innings for the Sox this season, yielding three earned runs on five hits and three walks with three strikeouts. He’s logged 149 2/3 frames at the MLB level over parts of seven seasons with the Rockies, Pirates, Brewers and White Sox, compiling a 3.85 ERA with 6.0 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9 in that span.
LaMarre, 30 next month, split the year between the Pale Hose and the Twins, batting .279/.322/.382 in a career-high 180 plate appearances. A career .268/.336/.389 hitter in parts of three Triple-A campaigns, the right-handed-hitting LaMarre is capable of handling all three outfield positions.
Angels Claim Kevan Smith, Designate Joe Hudson
The Angels announced Friday that they’ve claimed catcher Kevan Smith off waivers from the White Sox and cleared a spot on the 40-man roster by designating fellow backstop Joe Hudson for assignment.
Smith, 30, has spent parts of the past three seasons with the White Sox, totaling 146 games and 497 plate appearances with a .281/.318/.376 batting line, seven homers and 23 doubles in that time. He’s struggled enormously when it comes to controlling the running game, though, posting an anemic 14 percent caught-stealing rate. From a pitch-framing standpoint, Baseball Prospectus has given Smith rougly average marks between the Majors and minors over the past few seasons while rating his blocking skills to be below average.
Smith is out of minor league options, meaning he can’t be sent to the minors next year unless he first clears waivers — assuming he even sticks on the 40-man roster all winter, which is far from a given.
As for Hudson, the 27-year-old hit well with the Double-A and Triple-A affiliates for the Angels this season, albeit in minuscule sample sizes. Hudson notched a .970 OPS in seven games with the Double-A club before moving up to Triple-A and hitting .311/.380/.478 in 101 PAs. He’s also drawn solid framing marks over the past couple of seasons in the minors and has a career 43 percent caught-stealing rate.
Hudson went 2-for-12 in a late-season cameo with the Angels — a brief stint that marked his MLB debut. Generally speaking, however, he’s struggled with the bat in the upper levels of the minor leagues, hitting just .196/.297/.289 in parts of three Double-A seasons.
Minor MLB Transactions: 10/26/18
We’ll track some minor moves from around the game here…
- The Indians announced yesterday that they’ve re-signed left-hander R.C. Orlan and right-hander Shao-Ching Chiang to minor league contracts and invited both to Major League Spring Training in 2019. Orlan returned from injury in 2018 and worked his way back to Triple-A by season’s end, posting a combined 0.61 ERA with a 39-to-7 K/BB ratio across 29 2/3 innings. Much of that impressive-looking work came against Rookie-level opposition for the 27-year-old Orlan, but he also combined for 17 1/3 shutout innings between Double-A and Triple-A, making it easy to see why the organization was quick to retain him. Chiang, 24, generated strong results in a dozen Double-A starts before struggling more in his first 11 career starts at the Triple-A level. In all, the Taiwanese righty pitched to a 3.90 ERA with 6.2 K/9 and 1.6 BB/9 in 136 innings.
- Baseball America’s Matt Eddy runs through a couple hundred minor league signings, releases, Arizona Fall League assignments, Winter League assignments and free-agent elections in his latest Minor League Transactions roundup, which has notes on all 30 big league clubs. Among the more recognizable names to formally elect free agency were Pedro Alvarez, George Kontos, Carter Capps and Chase Whitley. All should have been expected when they weren’t on 40-man rosters at season’s end, but the formalities are still at least of some note.
Tigers Outright Four Players
Oct. 25: The Tigers have announced all the moves, adding that Coleman, Adduci and Kozma have indeed elected free agency. Castro, it seems, will remain with the organization.
Oct. 24: The Tigers have outrighted shortstop Pete Kozma, right-hander Louis Coleman, first baseman/outfielder Jim Adduci and infielder Harold Castro after each the four cleared waivers, per the team’s transaction page at MLB.com. They’ll join right-hander Artie Lewicki, who did not clear waivers and was claimed by the D-backs, as the first five offseason roster casualties for the Tigers.
Kozma, still just 30 years old, had two stints with the Tigers this season but hit just .217/.236/.348 in 73 trips to the plate. His Triple-A work wasn’t any prettier (.203/.260/.295), though the defensive specialist has always been known more for his glovework than his bat.
Coleman, 32, racked up a fairly significant workload in Detroit this year, tallying 51 1/3 innings out of manager Ron Gardenhire’s bullpen. His 3.51 ERA looks fairly appealing at first glance, but he managed just 7.2 K/9 against 4.2 BB/9 and worked off a fastball that averaged 89.1 mph. Coleman benefited from a strand rate (78.8 percent) well north of the league average and a BABIP (.270) that was a good bit shy of the league norm, though both those numbers were in line with his career marks.
The 33-year-old Adduci has spent time with the Tigers in each of the past two seasons but mustered only a .267/.290/.386 batting line in 185 trips to the plate in 2018. The Canadian-born veteran has had plenty of success in Triple-A (career .287/.354/.414 hitter) and also fared well in a pair of seasons with the Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization (.307/.369/.530).
Castro, 25 next month, went 3-for-10 in his big league debut this season after having his contract selected in late September. He didn’t give the organization much reason for optimism with his Triple-A showing, hitting .257/.270/.310 in 251 plate appearances, and it’s been four years since he was ranked 28th among Tigers farmhands by Baseball America.
All four players — certainly Kozma, Coleman and Adduci — seem likely to become free agents and look for new minor league pacts in the offseason. Both Kozma and Coleman would’ve been arbitration-eligible this offseason, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting Kozma at a modest $700K and Coleman at $1.1MM.
Diamondbacks Claim Artie Lewicki From Tigers
The Diamondbacks have claimed right-hander Artie Lewicki off waivers from the Tigers, per the MLB.com Transactions page (hat tip: MLive.com’s Evan Woodbery, on Twitter). Lewicki underwent Tommy John surgery back in late August.
The 26-year-old Lewicki (27 in April) has generally turned in quality results in the upper minors but has yet to have much success as a big leaguer. In 2018, he turned in 38 1/3 innings of 4.89 ERA ball with 7.0 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, 0.93 HR/9 and a 40.3 percent ground-ball rate with the Tigers. However, he posted a 2.03 ERA with terrific K/BB numbers in Triple-A in 2017 and owns an overall 3.79 ERA with 8.5 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9 in 92 2/3 innings at the top minor league level.
Obviously, Lewicki is highly unlikely to pitch for the D-backs in 2019. It’s not even a given that Arizona will carry him on the 40-man roster through the duration of the offseason. The Diamondbacks could try to run the right-hander through waivers themselves and then send him outright to Triple-A, retaining his rights but shedding the requirement to carry him on the 40-man roster. If Lewicki does survive the offseason on Arizona’s 40-man, he could be immediately added to the 60-day disabled list next spring, thus freeing a spot for the remainder of the 2019 season.
Minor MLB Transactions: 10/23/18
Rounding up the minor moves from around the baseball world…
- Brewers minor leaguers RHP Alec Asher, LHP Mike Zagurski and IF Nick Franklin elected free agency, the team’s development department announced today. The 27-year-old Franklin – a former first-round pick of the Mariners – is the biggest name of the three, though his .214/.285/.359 career line illustrates his struggles at the big-league level. Asher is a former 23rd-round pick of the Giants who appeared in two games for the Brewers this season without giving up a run. Zagurksi is now 35-years-old and last saw significant time in the majors when he appeared in 45 games for the Diamondbacks in 2012, pitching to a 5.54 ERA across 37.1 innings. Zagurski and Franklin spent all of 2018 in the Brewers’ system, whereas Asher split the year between the Triple-A clubs of the Brewers and Dodgers.
- The Arizona Diamondbacks signed right-hander Shane Watson to a two-year minor-league deal, per Baseball America’s Matt Eddy (via Twitter). The now-25-year-old Watson was drafted 40th overall in the 2012 draft by the Philadelphia Phillies, and last played for a major-league affiliated club in 2017 with the Double-A Reading Phillies.
Rays Reportedly Nearing Deal With Sandy Gaston
The Rays appear to be closing in on a deal with Cuban right-hander Sandy Gaston that will pay him a $2.6MM bonus. Jorge Ebro of El Nuevo Herald (Spanish-language link) reports that the sides are already in agreement, though Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times hears (Twitter link) they are still working toward a finalized deal. MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro tweeted last night that the sides were nearing agreement on a deal.
If the contract hits the books, the 17-year-old Gaston will absorb the bulk of Tampa Bay’s remaining international spending pool, which had stood at $3.5MM. It is not entirely clear to what extent the organization’s proximity to Gaston’s homeland played into the decision, but it surely did not hurt their odds.
For their money, the Rays will get a player who was rated as the 24th overall international prospect by Ben Badler of Baseball America. Gaston is best known for his big velocity, which he showed off in a recent showcase for MLB clubs. That’s a loud tool for a young hurler, but Badler also notes that Gaston otherwise lacks polish. His offspeed offerings and ability to consistently command the baseball remain in question, though certainly he has plenty of time to iron things out.
Gaston will join several other highly-regarded players to round out the Tampa Bay recruiting class. Per Badler’s signing tracker, the Rays have also landed 13th overall prospect Alejando Pie as well as four other top-fifty talents and a variety of additional players.
With the news, the Orioles have now missed out on the three top prospects left on the international market — at least, by general reputation. The Marlins recently wrapped up deals with Victor Victor Mesa and Victor Mesa Jr., fellow Cuban players who had held a showcase with Gaston.
It’s a rather curious situation, as the Baltimore organization had prioritized the aggregation of bonus pool availability of late and has a hefty $6.5MM still left to spend, by far the largest sum in baseball. At last look, the club was said still to be chasing Gaston, even as it seeks a new leader for its baseball operations department. Ebro notes that there was close competition for the intriguing young hurler. The Orioles’ back-up plans remain unclear.
Giants Outright Five Players
The Giants have outrighted five players off of their 40-man roster, the club announced and Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area was among those to cover (Twitter links). The moves opened space for a handful of players to be moved back onto the roster from the 60-day DL.
Four of the players to be bumped — infielder Chase d’Arnaud, righty Casey Kelly, utilityman Kelby Tomlinson, and infielder Miguel Gomez — are now free agents. The former two had the right to reject an assignment, while the latter pair became eligible for minor-league free agency upon departing the MLB roster.
A fifth player, right-hander Tyler Herb, was also outrighted. In his case, though, he’ll remain in the San Francisco organization. He has been assigned to Triple-A Sacramento, which is where he spent most of the 2018 campaign.
Tomlinson, 28, had the lengthiest and most notable tenure with the Giants of the players outrighted today. He never quite matched his promising debut effort, however, ending his time in San Francisco with a .265/.331/.332 slash line over 687 plate appearances.
As for d’Arnaud, a light-hitting journeyman infielder, he’ll look for another opportunity to function as a depth piece. The 29-year-old Kelly, once a prospect of some note, allowed just eight earned runs in his 23 2/3 innings with the Giants but surrendered a 4.76 ERA over 24 Triple-A starts. Gomez has received scant MLB opportunity. He played mostly at the two highest levels of the minors in 2018, drawing just nine walks in 437 plate appearances while posting a .291/.304/.418 slash line.