Tigers Designate Zach McAllister For Assignment
The Tigers announced that they’ve designated right-hander Zach McAllister for assignment. To take his place, they plan on selecting fellow righty Jacob Turner‘s contract from Triple-A Toledo prior to Sunday’s game against the Twins.
It appears the marriage between the Tigers and McAllister will end up as a short-lived union, as the team just signed the 30-year-old on Aug. 10. In order to make room for the addition of McAllister, Detroit designated Turner, making Saturday’s move a reversal of that transaction.
The hard-throwing McAllister appeared in three games and threw 3 1/3 innings as a Tiger, giving up a whopping eight earned runs on 10 hits despite racking up five strikeouts against no walks. McAllister also struggled to prevent runs across 41 2/3 frames with the AL Central rival Indians earlier this year, as he pitched to a 4.97 ERA with 7.3 K/9 against 2.2 BB/9, prompting the Tribe to release him Aug. 8.
McAllister isn’t far removed from serving as a quality reliever, evidenced by his 2.99 ERA over 183 1/3 innings from 2015-17, but it appears this will go down as a season to forget for him. Turner, on the other hand, hasn’t experienced much success since debuting with the Tigers back in 2011, but they’ll give him a chance to make his second start of the season Sunday. The 27-year-old owns a 5.37 ERA with 5.76 K/9 against 3.51 BB/9 in 369 big league frames, and has allowed a comical 15 earned runs on 19 hits in just 6 2/3 innings between Detroit and Miami in 2018.
Tigers Acquire Nolan Blackwood From Athletics
4:24pm: Detroit hasn’t decided yet whether it’ll take the other PTBNL or cash to complete the trade, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets.
3:48pm: The Tigers have acquired right-hander Nolan Blackwood from the Athletics, per an announcement from Detroit. Blackwood’s one of the two players to be named later in the teams’ Mike Fiers trade from earlier this month.
The 23-year-old Blackwood had been with the A’s since they used a 14th-round pick on him in 2016. He ended up ascending to the Double-A level this year with Oakland, pitching to a 4.08 ERA/3.51 FIP with 8.15 K/9, 2.72 BB/9 and an excellent 62.5 percent groundball rate in 53 innings (39 appearances). Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com ranked Blackwood as the A’s 30th-best prospect prior to his departure from the organization, noting that the 6-foot-5 sidearmer has quality stuff, including a 91 to 93 mph fastball with “heavy sink,” and “tremendous deception.”
Fiers, meanwhile, has been terrific for the A’s thus far, having thrown 11 1/3 innings of three-run ball with 13 strikeouts against zero walks in two starts since the surging AL West title contenders added him on Aug. 6. But with the Tigers in a rebuild and well out of contention, it didn’t make sense for them to keep the 33-year-old Fiers through the season. Now, at Fiers’ expense, Detroit has picked up at least one promising prospect in Blackwood. He’ll join a Tigers farm system that Baseball America ranks as the majors’ 14th-best group (subscription required).
Minor MLB Transactions: 8/18/18
The latest minor moves from around baseball…
- The Royals have selected right-hander Jake Newberry‘s contract from Triple-A Omaha and optioned fellow righty Jason Adam, per a team announcement. Meanwhile, righty Blaine Boyer is now a free agent after clearing waivers, Maria Torres of the Kansas City Star tweets. The 23-year-old Newberry is in line to make his major league debut long after joining the Royals as a 37th-round pick in 2012. Newberry has dominated at both the Double-A and Triple-A levels this season, with a combined 1.63 ERA and 9.6 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9 in 49 2/3 innings. Boyer, whom KC released Wednesday, has logged a godawful 12.05 ERA with 3.7 K/9 and 5.4 BB/9 in 21 2/3 major league frames this year.
- The Angels announced that righty Akeel Morris has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Salt Lake. The 25-year-old Morris, whom the Angels designated for assignment on Wednesday, has struggled at both the Triple-A and major league levels in 2018. He owns an ERA near 6.00 in a combined 53 2/3 innings between Salt Lake and Anaheim, with the majority of his work (39 2/3 frames) coming with the former.
- The Braves have outrighted righty Chase Whitley to Triple-A Gwinnett, David O’Brien of The Athletic tweets. Whitley, 29, has thrown just one inning this year with the Braves. The former Yankee and Ray has recorded a 4.56 ERA/4.01 FIP with 7.25 K/9 and 2.31 BB/9 in 167 2/3 major league innings.
Giants Activate Hunter Strickland
SATURDAY: The club has announced the move, and transferred Pablo Sandoval to the 60-day DL to accomodate.
FRIDAY: The Giants are set to activate Hunter Strickland from the disabled list tomorrow, the team told reporters (Twitter link via Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group). His activation will serve as the corresponding move for placing rookie right-hander Dereck Rodriguez on the 10-day disabled list yesterday. Curiously, the Giants won’t make an additional move today and will instead play a man short in Friday’s contest against the Reds.
[Related: San Francisco Giants depth chart]
Strickland has been out since undergoing surgery to repair a fractured right hand back in mid-June. It was an embarrassing injury for the right-hander, who sustained the fracture when he punched a door out of frustration following a blown save. He’s on the 60-day disabled list, so the Giants will have to make a corresponding 40-man move in order to activate him.
Left-hander Will Smith has been serving as San Francisco’s closer in Strickland’s absence, and it’s not yet clear how manager Bruce Bochy will elect to manage his bullpen roles once Strickland is activated. Smith has pitched exceptionally well this year, working to a superlative 2.01 ERA with 12.5 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 0.45 HR/9 and a 40.7 percent ground-ball rate. Smith is also running up a career-best 16 percent swinging-strike rate and a 40.4 percent chase rate that checks in as the third-best mark among qualified relievers in 2018.
Strickland was enjoying a strong season himself prior to the injury. In 31 2/3 frames this year, he’s posted a 2.84 ERA with 8.2 K/9, 3.7 BB/9, 0.57 HR/9 and a 39.6 percent ground-ball rate. Those numbers are obviously a fair sight shy of Smith’s dominance, but deploying Strickland in the ninth inning could allow Bochy to utilize Smith in higher-leverage spots earlier in the game — particularly against tough left-handed bats. While Smith has dominated righties and lefties alike, he’s been utterly overpowering against same-handed battters. Through 57 plate appearances, lefties are hitting a comically feeble .161/.175/.196 against him.
Outrighted: Alec Asher, George Kontos
We’ll track the day’s minor moves in this post …
- The Brewers announced that Alec Asher was outrighted after recently being designated for assignment. That’s the second time this year the Milwaukee organization has sent Asher to Triple-A after he cleared waivers. He can choose instead to go into free agency now or at the end of the season. Asher, 26, has spent most of 2018 at Triple-A, where he owns a 5.42 ERA with 39 strikeouts and 32 walks in 88 innings.
- Likewise, the Yankees say they outrighted veteran righty George Kontos, who was also in DFA limbo. As with Asher, he can elect the open market now or later. Kontos has seen time with three MLB teams this year, most recently making only a single appearance in New York. The eight-year veteran carries a 4.39 ERA with 5.1 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9 in 26 2/3 innings in the majors this season.
Rangers, Pirates Complete Keone Kela Trade
The Rangers will acquire prospect Sherten Apostel from the Pirates, as first reported by John Dreker of PiratesProspects.com (via Twitter) and as has since been announced. Apostel was chosen as the player to be named later in the deadline-day swap that sent reliever Keone Kela to the Pirates.
Apostel, 19, has been in the Bucs system for the past three years. The Curacaoan third baseman has put up strong offensive numbers in 2017 and 2018. This year, he’s slashing .259/.406/.460 with seven long balls along with a 42:32 K/BB rate over 175 plate appearances in the Rookie-level Appalachian League.
Though he has many hurdles to clear before he’ll be seen as a likely major-league asset, Apostel has certainly carved out a place for himself on the prospect map. He entered the current season ranked 16th among the pre-MLB players on the Pittsburgh farm by Fangraphs, based upon his intriguing upside. (Truly passionate Pirates supporters will want to consider a subscription over at PiratesProspects.com, where there are loads of stories documenting the progress of Apostel and his now-former prospect brethren.)
It seems, then, that the swap will infuse the Texas farm system with some quality new assets. Lefty Taylor Hearn was already acquired as the headliner of the package and could be a factor in the MLB mix as soon as 2019, if he develops as hoped. Apostel will no doubt be viewed as an increasingly important part of the Rangers’ future if he can continue to progress, though his outlook perhaps hinges most upon the question whether he will be able to handle third base defensively at full physical maturity. (Fangraphs just inserted him at 13th on its current ranking of Rangers prospects, which features Hearn in the #6 slot.)
It always figured to require a reasonably steep package of talent to get Kela, given his strong work this year and remaining seasons of arbitration eligibility. For the Pirates, Kela’s initial performance has at least helped validate the acquisition cost. The still-youthful reliever has allowed only one earned run in six frames for the Bucs, striking out six batters and issuing one walk. He’ll remain under club control through 2020.
Mariners Select Gordon Beckham, Designate John Andreoli
The Mariners announced today that they have selected the contract of veteran infielder Gordon Beckham. He’ll help the club fill out its infield mix while shortstop Jean Segura is on paternity leave. To create a 40-man opening, the Seattle organization designated outfielder John Andreoli for assignment.
Beckham, who’ll soon turn 32, has played two-dozen MLB games over the past two seasons with the M’s. He has spent most of his time of late, though, at Triple-A Tacoma. This year, the ten-year major-league veteran has posted a strong .311/.411/.479 slash with 52 walks against 46 strikeouts in his 370 plate appearances at the highest level of the minors.
The 28-year-old Andreoli, meanwhile, reached the majors this year only long enough to record his first and only big-league base hit. He’s in his first year in the Mariners org after spending seven professional campaigns in the Cubs system. Andreoli has posted a .287/.397/.401 slash in 388 plate appearances with Tacoma in 2018.
Mets Select Daniel Zamora, Place Bobby Wahl On DL
The Mets announced Friday that they’ve selected the contract of left-hander Daniel Zamora from Double-A Binghamton and placed right-hander Bobby Wahl on the 10-day disabled list due to a strained right hamstring.
Zamora, 25, came to the Mets in the offseason swap that sent fellow left-hander Josh Smoker to the Pirates. Thus far, he’s enjoyed a strong season in Binghamton — albeit against younger competition. Through 51 2/3 innings of work, Zamora has notched a 3.48 ERA with impressive marks of 12.0 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and 0.52 HR/9 to go along with a 45.2 percent ground-ball rate. He’s allowed a .244/.320/.384 slash to left-handed opponents but held right-handers to a terrible .157/.211/.255 batting line.
Diamondbacks To Re-Sign Randall Delgado
The D-backs have brought right-hander Randall Delgado back to the organization on a new minor league contract, reports Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic (on Twitter). Delgado was designated for assignment on July 25 and subsequently released. Delgado, a client of MVP Sports, will head to Triple-A Reno for the time being, according to Piecoro.
Delgado, 28, missed the vast majority of the 2018 season while recovering from a fairly severe oblique injury that landed him on the 60-day DL and kept him out of action from Opening Day until early July. Once healthy, he yielded four runs on seven hits and three walks through seven innings for Arizona, though he managed just two strikeouts in that time. Delgado’s fastball, which averaged 94.2 mph in 2017, averaged just 91.9 mph in his brief run with the D-backs earlier this season.
Uninspiring as those results might’ve been, Delgado brings a track record of solid bullpen work with him back to the Arizona organization. From 2015-17, he pitched to a 3.78 ERA over the life of 209 2/3 innings and averaged 8.6 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9 with 0.9 HR/9. Given his experience and the organization’s familiarity with Delgado, there’s a decent chance that he’ll get a look as an extra arm in the team’s bullpen when rosters expand in September. He has enough MLB service time to reach free agency at season’s end, so even if he pitches his way back into the front office’s good graces, he’ll likely be exploring the open market once again in the near future.
Minor MLB Transactions: 8/16/18
We’ll house the day’s minor moves in this post:
- The Blue Jays announced that right-hander Brandon Cumpton was outrighted after clearing waivers. He had been designated for assignment recently. The 29-year-old has previously been removed from a 40-man roster in such a fashion, meaning he’ll be eligible to elect free agency now or at season’s end. Cumpton, a former ninth-round draft pick, made it back to the majors this year with Toronto after a three-year absence. He only received one appearance, but that still marks a notable rebound for a player who was sidelined for all of 2015 and 2016 due to injuries. In his 26 2/3 innings at Triple-A this year, Cumpton owns a 5.40 ERA with 7.4 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9.