Braves Sign Fernando Salas, Lane Adams
The Braves have signed reliever Fernando Salas and outfielder Lane Adams to minor-league deals, according to an announcement by the club’s top affiliate. Both players are reporting to Triple-A Gwinnett.
Salas has turned in quite a few solid MLB innings over the years and will at least be a worthwhile depth asset to have on hand. The 33-year-old righty spent most of the early portion of this season with the Diamondbacks, allowing twenty earned runs in forty frames with 6.8 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9. He has engineered mid-season turnarounds in each of the past two seasons, but if he hopes to pull that feat off once again he’ll first have to earn a call-up.
As for Adams, he opened the year with the Braves. He hit well for the club at the MLB level over the past two seasons, but received limited action and was cut loose when roster pressures arose earlier this season. Adams ended up struggling quite a bit upon landing at Triple-A with the Cubs, so he’ll hope to get back in a groove back with the Atlanta organization.
Rangers Outright Carlos Perez
The Rangers announced Monday that they’ve activated catcher Carlos Perez from the 10-day disabled list and sent him outright to Triple-A Round Rock. In doing so, they’re creating a roster spot that’ll go to lefty Joe Palumbo who has been activated from the 60-day DL and optioned to Class-A Advanced Down East. Palumbo had been recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Perez, 27, was claimed off waivers from the Braves back in early May and appeared in 16 games with Texas before landing on the disabled list. In that time, he posted a lowly .167/.205/.286 slash with a homer and a pair of doubles in 46 plate appearances. He’s never been much of a threat with the bat in the big leagues, hitting a combined .218/.260/.322 in 663 PAs between the Angels, Braves and Rangers.
Of course, Perez’s calling card is his glovework behind the dish. He’s successfully halted 39 percent of stolen-base attempts against him at the big league level and has drawn generally positive marks for both his pitch-framing and pitch-blocking skills, per Baseball Prospectus.
Minor MLB Transactions: 7/16/18
We’ll track Monday’s minor moves from around the game here…
- The Braves‘ Triple-A affiliate announced yesterday that veteran catcher Rob Brantly has been released, with prospect Alex Jackson moving up from Double-A Mississippi to Triple-A Gwinnett in his place. Brantly, 29, has had an ugly season in Triple-A this year, hitting at just a .218/.254/.293 clip through 201 plate appearances. He had an excellent year between the Triple-A affiliates for the Reds and White Sox last season and even hit .290/.389/.516 in 36 big league plate appearances with the White Sox, but that success hasn’t carried over to the 2018 campaign. Jackson hasn’t exactly had a productive season, either, as he’s posted a woeful .200/.282/.329 and struck out in 31 percent of his 252 plate appearances.
Minor MLB Transactions: 7/15/18
Keeping track of Sunday’s minor moves…
- The Rockies have outrighted reliever Brooks Pounders to Triple-A and reinstated fellow reliever Carlos Estevez from the 60-day disabled list, per a team announcement. The club subsequently optioned Estevez to Triple-A. Given that he has been outrighted in the past, Pounders has the ability to elect free agency. It’s unclear if that will happen, however. The 27-year-old has been a Rockie since January, when he signed a minor league deal with the team, and earned a major league call-up in late April. Pounders then struggled to prevent runs over 15 1/3 innings, recording a 7.63 ERA on a whopping 25 hits. However, he did post tremendous strikeout and walk rates (9.98 K/9, 1.17 BB/9). The former Royal and Angel offered similar production with those two teams, as his 8.92 ERA, 9.86 K/9 and 2.35 BB/9 over 38 1/3 frames demonstrate. He owns a 2.93 Triple-A ERA, though, with 9.5 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 147 1/3 innings.
Bruce Rondon Elects Free Agency
The White Sox outrighted reliever Bruce Rondon earlier this week, giving him a chance to remain in the organization at the Triple-A level. Instead, he has rejected the assignment and elected free agency, James Fegan of The Athletic tweets.
The hard-throwing Rondon will now look for work elsewhere, though he won’t bring an accomplished major league resume to his next stop. Rondon, who debuted with the Tigers in 2013 and pitched for Detroit through 2017, owns a 5.73 ERA and a 5.03 BB/9 across 141 1/3 innings. He threw 29 2/3 frames with the White Sox this season and logged an 8.49 ERA and an 8.19 BB/9, though he did strike out upward of 12 batters per nine and has regularly run up high K totals in the bigs (11.03 K/9).
It’s a near-certainty that Rondon’s next pact will be a minor league accord, as his deal with the White Sox was. It’s worth noting, then, that the 27-year-old has held his own in the minors. Across 109 2/3 Triple-A innings, he has pitched to a 3.04 ERA and notched 11.2 K/9, but he has also issued 5.5 free passes per nine.
Pitching Notes: Bauer, Slegers, McCarthy, Cody
In a recent podcast with Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports, Indians right-hander Trevor Bauer suggested he’d only take one-year deals for the remainder of his career (partially due to the high stakes of a bet with a childhood friend). Although that seems radical and somewhat irresponsible on the surface, Eno Sarris dives into the subject in a piece for The Athletic and discovers that maybe the idea isn’t really all that bad. Although Bauer would be giving up a lot of security, he’d likely earn a significant bump in average annual value. Bauer has never had health issues, so in his case the health risks might not be as severe as other players seeking long-term deals to lock up the most total dollars possible. All in all, Sarris comes to the conclusion that the contract strategy could feasibly benefit Bauer in the long run.
Here are some other pitcher-related notes from around baseball…
- The Twins placed righty Aaron Slegers on the disabled list today with shoulder inflammation, and plan to recall rookie Fernando Romero to make a start in his stead. Slegers had a rough go of it in three appearances (two starts) this season, allowing eight earned runs in 12 2/3 innings with just five strikeouts. Romero, on the other hand, has made ten starts this season and turned in a reasonable performance thus far ( 4.38 ERA).
- Braves right-hander Brandon McCarthy is rehabbing his knee injury, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, but oddly enough he’s doing it at his home in Arizona with his own physical therapist. Obviously that’s far from the norm at this point in the season, particularly given Atlanta’s status as a contending team in the NL East. McCarthy came to Atlanta in a financially-motivated trade with the Dodgers, but has barely managed to exceed five innings per start in his tenure with the Braves thus far, and has posted an ugly 4.92 ERA.
- Another Rangers prospect has gone down with the dreaded ulnar collateral ligament injury, and will require Tommy John surgery, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports. This time, it’s right-hander Kyle Cody, who had been attempting rest and rehab as an alternative to surgery. Cody was shut down for an extended period after experiencing issues during spring training; he’ll now go under the knife and likely be out until the beginning of 2020. The towering 6’7″ hurler was a sixth-round pick of the Rangers back in 2016.
Minor MLB Transactions: 7/14/18
This post will serve as a way to keep track of today’s minor moves…
- The Cardinals have released minor league reliever Arturo Reyes, Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com tweets. Reyes never carried much pedigree as the 1,205 overall pick in the 2013 amateur draft, but he shot up the minor league ranks in his first two years of pro ball, reaching the Triple-A level just over two years after being taken out of Gonzaga University on Washington. He’s dealt with injuries and ineffectiveness since 2015, however, and began the transition to the bullpen last season. His results this year were shockingly poor, as Reyes posted a 6.68 ERA and walked 4.54 batters per nine innings across 33 2/3 relief innings.
Rays Acquire Hoby Milner From Phillies
The Rays have acquired lefty reliever Hoby Milner from the Phillies in exchange for cash considerations, the club has announced. Milner was designated for assignment by Philadelphia earlier this week. The Rays designated right-hander Ryan Weber for assignment to create roster space for Milner.
One might have thought Milner would have a longer leash with the Phillies after his excellent rookie season with them last year. He managed a 2.01 ERA across 31 1/3 innings in 2017, though with unsightly peripherals including 6.32 K/9 against 4.60 BB/9. Furthermore, he benefited from a likely unsustainable 91.1% strand rate that helped his run prevention totals greatly.
This season, Milner made ten appearances in the majors spanning 4 2/3 innings. He allowed four earned runs, with three of them coming in one appearance. At the Triple-A level in 2018, Milner has outpitched his peripherals much in the same manner as he did last season; he’s managed at 2.39 ERA despite a 4.78 BB/9. Again, that can partially be credited to his 87.7% strand rate. He’ll now serve as depth for the Rays, who have been known for unusual (and effective) bullpen usage this season.
This is the second time that Weber has been designated by the Rays, with the first occasion (back in April) resulting in an outright assignment to Triple-A. Weber has tossed just 5 1/3 MLB innings for Tampa this year, and nine Major League innings total over the last two seasons. A groundball specialist who doesn’t miss many bats, Weber has posted a very strong 2.12 ERA over 241 2/3 career Triple-A innings.
Quick Hits: Gray, Hoffman, Mejia, Buxton
The Rockies recalled Jon Gray tonight to start tonight’s game against the Mariners. Gray’s 5.77 ERA across 17 starts this season seemed like reasonable cause for a demotion, but it always seemed as though he wouldn’t spend too long in the minors. After all, he was striking out 29% of opposing hitters, and by measures of FIP (3.12), xFIP (2.82) and SIERA (3.19), he was having an absolutely fantastic season. As MLBTR’s Connor Byrne mentioned at the time, his .386 BABIP and 63.1% strand rate pointed to a horrific amount of bad luck. In two starts at the Triple-A level, Gray managed to strike out 13 batters in 10 2/3 innings while allowing four runs.
In a corresponding move, the Rockies optioned fellow young right-hander Jeff Hoffman to Triple-A. Also a former top prospect, Hoffman hasn’t managed to find his footing in the majors yet, and has allowed more than a run per inning on average while pitching out of the Rockies’ bullpen. He’s also walked more batters than he’s struck out, and spent time on the DL with a shoulder injury.
Here are some notable developments from around MLB…
- The Indians have recalled Francisco Mejia to make a start at DH tonight against the Yankees; it’s his 2018 MLB debut. The young switch-hitter is not only universally believed to be the Tribe’s top prospect, but he’s also considered the best catching prospect in all of baseball. Unfortunately for him, he’s been blocked in the majors by a solid defensive tandem of Yan Gomes and Roberto Perez, both of whom are signed to contracts that stretch a couple of years beyond 2018.
- Another former top prospect, Twins outfielder Byron Buxton, can’t seem to catch a break this season. He’s apparently suffered a left wrist strain at Triple-A, and will head to the 7-day minor league disabled list (hat tip to Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com). After posting a horrific wRC+ of -3 (yes, negative), Buxton has put up a .219/.288/.356 batting line at Triple-A and will now have to wait at least another week before he has a chance to get on track.
Athletics Designate Santiago Casilla, Select J.B. Wendelken
The Athletics have made a series of roster moves; most notably among them is the DFA of right-hander Santiago Casilla. The club also selected the contract of 25-year-old righty J.B. Wendelken, while simultaneously optioning righty Ryan Dull, promoting infielder Franklin Barreto and reinstating righty Daniel Mengden from the 10-day DL.
It’s been a solid enough season for the 37-year-old Casilla on the surface, who owns a 3.16 ERA through 31 1/3 innings pitched. But his 4.08 FIP and 5.80 xFIP paint a wildly different picture. He’s also walked nearly as many hitters (20) as he’s managed to strike out (22), in part due to a career-low 9.0% swinging strike rate. As Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle notes, he’s likely to go unclaimed; Casilla is in the second season of a two-year, $11MM deal, and any claiming team would be on the hook for the prorated portion of his salary. He’ll likely be given the choice to accept a minor league assignment.
Wendelken will be making his first appearance in the majors since 2016, when he tossed 12 2/3 rough innings for the Athletics to the tune of a 9.95 ERA. The right-hander ultimately required Tommy John surgery, and remained out of commission until the beginning of this season. Thus far at the Triple-A level, he’s chucked a healthy 28 1/3 innings, managing a 3.49 ERA (2.39 FIP). The most impressive part about Wendelken’s performance this year is a whopping 14.29 K/9 against just 2.54 BB/9; it certainly seems likely that he’ll prove an upgrade over Casilla.
Mengden, 25, hasn’t pitched since June 23rd after suffering a right foot sprain during a start in which he gave up five earned runs across just two innings. While Mengden certainly isn’t known as an overpowering pitcher (5.46 K/9), he limits walks (1.89 BB/9) and has posted a 4.47 ERA on the season thus far in 90 2/3 innings.