Minor MLB Transactions: 9/13/18
Here are Thursday’s minor moves from around the game…
- The Tigers announced that right-hander Johnny Barbato cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week. He’s been outrighted off the 40-man roster. Barbato, 26, tossed just 6 2/3 innings for the Tigers this season and was tagged for nine earned runs in that time. However, he also pitched to an outstanding 1.45 ERA with 37 strikeouts against just 10 walks in 37 1/3 innings of Triple-A ball. Barbato averages a bit better than 94 mph on his fastball and has averaged better than a strikeout per inning throughout his minor league career, but he’s struggled in parts of three MLB seasons with the Yankees, Pirates and Tigers.
Royals Release Eric Stout
Sept. 12: Stout has cleared waivers and is now a free agent, the team announced.
Sept. 10: The Royals announced Monday that they’ve requested unconditional release waivers on left-handed reliever Eric Stout. The 25-year-old was designated for assignment last week when Kansas City claimed Ben Lively off outright waivers from the Phillies.
Stout had a brief run in the Majors with the Royals earlier this season, but he as hammered for seven runs (six earned) in 2 1/3 innings. His struggles extended to Triple-A Omaha, where he pitched to a 4.75 ERA with 7.2 K/9, 2.1 BB/9, 0.82 HR/9 and a 37.8 percent grounder rate through 55 innings. Lefties have posted a .725 OPS against Stout between the Majors and Minors this season, but he held left-handed opponents to a terrible .193/.264/.301 batting line with a 22.5 percent strikeout rate and a 7.5 percent walk rate in Omaha a year ago.
The decision to release Stout stems from the fact that he was on the minor league disabled list at the time the Royals decided they needed a roster spot to claim Lively. Injured players can’t be run through outright waivers during the season, so Stout will instead be released if and when he clears release waivers. At that point, common for players in these situations to re-sign a new minor league deal, though Stout will also have the opportunity to explore the market and field interest from 29 other teams.
Hisashi Iwakuma To Return To Japan
Veteran right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma tells Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times that he will conclude his tenure with the Mariners and return to his native Japan. That does not mean, however, that he’s calling his playing career quits.
Iwakuma had been trying to return from shoulder surgery, but only made it to a pair of rehab appearances. While he was not able to get all the way back to the big league mound, the 37-year-old says he still hopes to pitch in the Nippon Professional Baseball League in the future.
As Iwakuma put it: “Looking at the big picture, it’s been long process of rehab, and finally in this long tunnel, I’m starting to see light. … I wanted to explore how much more I could do back in Japan and see if there any teams are interested in me.”
Though he did not come to the majors until his age-31 season, following a strong decade-long NPB run, Iwakuma certainly made his mark at the game’s highest level. He ended up throwing 883 2/3 innings of 3.42 ERA ball, all of them coming with the Seattle organization.
It’s easy to forget just how effective ‘Kuma was over the years. He never posted gaudy strikeout rates, but rarely gave up free passes and (in his first three seasons, at least) drew groundballs on about half the balls put in play against him.
His best overall season, unquestionably, came in 2013. Iwakuma came up one out shy of accumulating 220 frames and ended the year with a 2.66 ERA and 7.6 K/9 against 1.7 BB/9. He earned his lone All-Star nod in the midst of that campaign, which ended with a third-place finish in the American League Cy Young voting.
Of course, injuries limited Iwakuma more recently. Problems identified on his physical scuttled a three-year, $45MM contract with the Dodgers after the 2015 season. He ended up returning to the M’s on a deal that included a $12MM guarantee and rolling vesting/club options. While the first campaign under that agreement worked out well enough, as Iwakuma threw 199 innings with a 4.12 ERA, he only made six starts with the team in the 2017 season. After the option was declined, Iwakuma ended up returning on a minor-league deal — the same contract that is now coming to a conclusion.
As he prepares to return to Japan, it’s interesting to look back on the circumstances surrounding his original decision to cross the Pacific. Iwakuma was actually posted in the fall of 2010, with the Athletics winning the bidding under the system in place at that time. When Oakland failed to work out a deal with Iwakuma, he pitched a final season in Japan before drawing interest again as a free agent.
Unfortunately, though he was effective in that intervening campaign, Iwakuma also was limited that year by shoulder issues. He ended up signing an incentive-laden, one-year deal with the M’s for only a $1.5MM guarantee. The Seattle club wisely doubled down on that initial investment in the ensuing offseason with a two-year, $14MM extension that included a cheap, $7MM option for the 2015 season.
Though he spent a relatively brief portion of his career in the majors, Iwakuma rates as one of the better Japanese starters ever to ply his trade at the game’s highest level. Where does he rate among them? That’s up for debate, certainly, but those interested in weighing the question can check out this list I compiled of ten prominent Japanese hurlers who’ve compile a notable number of MLB starts.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Lotte Giants Place Felix Doubront On Waivers
The Korea Baseball Organization’s Lotte Giants announced today that they have placed lefty Felix Doubront on waivers, as Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net notes on Twitter (Naver article in Korean). That will presumably bring an end to his tenure with the club.
The move comes on the heels of a particularly rough series of outings for the veteran southpaw. (Statistics via MyKBOStats.com.) He hasn’t made it out of the fourth inning in any of his past three starts, allowing 14 earned runs in just 9 1/3 innings. That poor stretch has pushed Doubront’s season ERA up to 4.92 through 137 1/3 innings, over which he has compiled 109 strikeouts against 62 walks.
We last saw Doubront stateside last season, when he spent time at Triple-A with the Athletics. But the 30-year-old Venezuelan hasn’t appeared in the big leagues since 2015. All told, he owns a 4.89 ERA with 7.7 K/9 and 3.8 BB/9 in 513 2/3 MLB frames, the vast majority of them coming in a starting role.
Orioles Promote DJ Stewart
The Orioles have announced that outfield prospect D.J. Stewart is heading onto the active roster. His contract was selected today.
A few corresponding moves were announced as well. Righty Cody Carroll and catcher Andrew Susac were both activated, while outfielder Mark Trumbo and righty Pedro Araujo were bumped to the 60-day DL.
Stewart, a former first-round pick, will make it to the bigs in advance of an offseason Rule 5 decision. Clearly, the O’s expect to carry him on the 40-man roster throughout the offseason.
Now 24 years of age, the FSU product has moved steadily through the Baltimore system. He wasn’t able to follow up on a strong 2017 season at the Double-A level, however, as he struggled a bit in his 490 plate appearances this year at the club’s top affiliate. He hit a dozen home runs, swiped 11 bags, and slashed .235/.329/.387 on the year.
Tigers Select Matt Hall, Designate Johnny Barbato
The Tigers announced today that they have selected the contract of lefty Matt Hall. To create 40-man space, the organization designated right-hander Johnny Barbato.
Hall, 24, was a sixth-round pick in the 2015 draft, meaning he’d have been eligible for the Rule 5 draft this winter had he not gone onto the MLB roster. Instead, he’ll get a taste of the big leagues before perhaps competing for a job in camp.
Certainly, Hall has had an excellent season thus far in the upper minors. He opened the year in a relief capacity despite generally succeeding in the rotation in the lower minors. But Hall has thrown well enough overall that he worked as a starter upon rising to Triple-A. All told, he has recorded 114 1/3 innings of 2.13 ERA ball on the year, with 10.6 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9.
Barbato was also a sixth-round pick and has typically been quite effective in the upper minors. He spent most of the year turning in good numbers at Triple-A, with a 1.45 ERA in 37 1/3 innings. Unfortunately, that has not yet translated to the major-league level thus far.
Though Barbato’s MLB opportunities have been limited over the past three seasons, that’s due largely to the outcomes. In his seven MLB relief appearances this year with Detriot, he coughed up nine earned runs on 11 hits (including three home runs) while allowing five walks and managing only a pair of strikeouts.
Cardinals Activate Adam Wainwright, Transfer Michael Wacha To 60-Day DL
7:28pm: St. Louis GM Mike Girsch says that Wacha will not return this season, as MLB.com’s Jen Langosch tweets. Wacha’s oblique injury was aggravated, removing any chance of his return.
1:54pm: The Cardinals announced Monday that they’ve activated right-hander Adam Wainwright from the 60-day disabled list and transferred righty Michael Wacha from the 10-day DL to the 60-day DL in order to create space on the roster.
The 37-year-old Wainwright will start tonight’s game against the Pirates, marking his first appearance since May 13. The three-time All-Star and two-time Cy Young runner-up has been bothered by elbow issues for much of the season after initially landing on the DL for inflammation back in May. He’s been limited to four appearances in 2018, totaling just 18 innings of work for the Cards in that time.
Wainwright told reporters back in Spring Training that he had no plans to talk about his future in the game and has, to this point, held to that stance (link via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Rick Hummel). But given that the 2018 season is the final year on Wainwright’s contract, there’ll be plenty of speculation as to whether the next few weeks with the Cards represent his big league swan song. Any such determination surely won’t come until after the season, though, and it stands to reason that the manner in which he performs and his ability to recover after this month’s starts will prove instructive in making that call. Wainwright is earning $19.5MM this season in the final year of a five-year, $95MM extension he signed prior to the 2014 campaign.
As for Wacha, he hasn’t taken the mound since mid-June due to what seems to be a severe oblique injury. It should be noted that today’s news doesn’t technically mean his season is over. Wacha had already been on the disabled list for 60 days, so he’d already have filled that minimum requirement should the Cards deem him ready to pitch between now and season’s end. There’s been no indication that’s likely, however; to the contrary, Wacha was actually scratched from a rehab start last week due to renewed discomfort in his ailing oblique muscle. The 27-year-old enjoyed a fair bit of success when healthy this season, pitching to a 3.20 ERA with 7.6 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9 in 84 1/3 innings over the life of 15 starts.
Rangers Outright Chris Rowley
The Rangers announced Monday that they’ve outrighted right-hander Chris Rowley off the 40-man roster after he cleared waivers. Texas’ 40-man roster now sits at a total of 39 players.
Rowley, 28, began the season in the Blue Jays organization but was claimed off outright waivers by the Rangers back in late July. While he didn’t appear for the big league club, Rowley did turn in 41 2/3 solid innings at the Triple-A level in the Rangers organization, working to a 3.46 ERA with 7.1 K/9, 3.5 BB/9 and a 44.4 percent ground-ball rate. In all, he has a 3.34 ERA in 145 2/3 Triple-A frames this season.
Despite a fairly encouraging performance in the minors, it doesn’t seem that Rowley will get a chance to improve upon his limited Major League experience. He tossed just two-thirds of an inning for the Jays earlier this season, plus another 18 2/3 innings in 2017, and has yielded a total of 17 runs in those 19 1/3 MLB innings. While that’s obviously not a very encouraging sample of work, Rowley does have a career 2.90 ERA in the minors — including a 3.13 mark in 207 innings at Triple-A.
Rowley doesn’t have much heat on his fastball, averaging 88.8 mph in the Majors, and he’s never been one to miss many bats or rack up grounders at a prolific rate. However, his typically low walk rates and solid run-prevention numbers in the minors should make him a somewhat appealing depth option this offseason — be it for the Rangers or another club.
Indians Activate Andrew Miller
Sept. 10: The Indians announced that Miller has indeed been activated from the disabled list.
Sept. 9: The Indians are planning to activate left-hander Andrew Miller from the 10-day DL on Monday, Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports (Twitter link). This would make it slightly beyond a minimum stint for Miller, who originally hit the DL on August 29 due to an external impingement in his throwing shoulder.
Of course, this is also Miller’s third trip to the disabled list this season, as the southpaw has been limited to just 27 appearances (24 innings) due to previous absences dealing with hamstring and knee problems. The knee inflammation was a particularly large issue, costing Miller over two months of the season. It’s safe to say that these injury problems are a reason behind Miller’s numbers, as the reliever hasn’t quite been his usual dominant self, though most pitchers would be more than satisfied with a 3.38 ERA, 2.54 K/BB rate, and 12.4 K/BB.
A fully healthy and in-form Miller, however, is arguably the most dominant bullpen weapon in all of baseball, particularly given his ability to pitch multiple innings. As the 2016 playoffs demonstrated, Miller can be an enormous force in a postseason series, so his return will be a huge boost to a Cleveland team that has been lacking in bullpen consistency all season. (Though the Tribe’s relief numbers have improved lately, thanks to Oliver Perez‘s continued late-career resurgence, and the acquisition of Brad Hand.) A strong showing over the season’s last few weeks and into October would also go a long way to rebuilding Miller’s free agent value, as the 33-year-old hits the open market this winter.
Minor MLB Transactions: 9/10/18
Here are Monday’s minor moves from around the game…
- The Pirates outrighted left-handed reliever Buddy Boshers to Triple-A Indianapolis after he cleared waivers, per John Dreker of PiratesProspects.com (Twitter link). The 30-year-old lefty split the season between the Pittsburgh and Houston organizations but didn’t reach the Majors with either team. He’s posted a solid 3.32 ERA with 9.8 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, 0.8 HR/9 and a 48 percent ground-ball rate through 57 Triple-A frames so far in 2018, but opposing lefties hit .303/.330/.434 against him this season. Boshers spent most of 2016-17 in the Majors with the Twins, pitching to a combined 4.56 ERA and generally holding lefties in check while struggling considerably against right-handed bats.