Drew Hutchison Elects Free Agency
Righty Drew Hutchison has elected free agency after clearing outright waivers, the Phillies announced today. He had been designated for assignment recently.
Hutchison, 27, worked to a 4.64 ERA with 8.0 K/9 and 5.5 BB/9 over his 21 1/3 innings on the year. To be fair, much of the damage came in two long-relief appearances during a stretch in which he appeared just twice in a 26-day span.
In parts of five seasons in the majors, Hutchison owns a 4.92 ERA with 8.3 K/9 against 3.0 BB/9 over 439 innings. He’ll surely have little trouble catching on somewhere, though it’s anyone’s guess when he’ll receive his next shot at the MLB level.
Twins To Sign Cameron Rupp
The Twins have reached agreement on a minor-league deal with catcher Cameron Rupp, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN (via Twitter). It seems he is already in Rochester readying to begin play with the organization.
Rupp, 29, will boost the Minnesota catching depth with Jason Castro expected to miss the rest of the year. Presently, the organization is utilizing Mitch Garver and Bobby Wilson behind the dish at the major-league level.
Though he has yet to see time in the big leagues this year, Rupp was a fixture behind the dish over the past three seasons for the Phillies. In 1,049 plate appearances over that span, he slashed .236/.301/.417 and swatted 39 home runs.
Still, Philadelphia cut Rupp loose late in Spring Training after agreeing initially agreeing to avoid arbitration. The receiver caught on with the Rangers organization shortly thereafter. He is off to a nice start with the bat this year, posting a .264/.328/.509 batting line over 125 Triple-A plate appearances before opting out of his contract recently.
Diamondbacks Select Contract Of Kristopher Negron
The Diamondbacks have selected the contract of utilityman Kristopher Negron, per a club announcement. Socrates Brito was optioned to Triple-A to create active roster space; the club had an open 40-man spot, so no move was needed there.
Negron, 32, saw brief time in the majors last year with the Snakes and has spent some time there previously with the Reds. All told, he’s a .214/.296/.338 hitter in 301 MLB plate appearances. And Negron has never shown much more than that with the bat in the upper minors; in parts of nine seasons at Triple-A, he carries a .245/.308/.378 slash.
The appeal here for the D-Backs, clearly, isn’t about boosting the offense. Rather, Negron will help fill in wherever needed, given his professional experience all over the field.
Yankees Option Tommy Kahnle
The Yankees announced after Game 1 of today’s doubleheader that they’ve activated right-hander Adam Warren from the 10-day disabled list and optioned right-hander Tommy Kahnle to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
The decision to send Kahnle to the minors would’ve seemed unfathomable following the 2017 season. The flamethrowing righty was a huge part of a July blockbuster with the White Sox and pitched to a combined 2.59 ERA with 13.4 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 and 0.57 HR/9 with a 40.7 percent ground-ball rate in 62 2/3 innings. Kahnle trailed only Craig Kimbrel, Kenley Jansen and teammate Chad Green in terms of K-BB%, and his 16.7 percent swinging-strike rate was the eighth-best of any qualified reliever in baseball.
So far, 2018 has been an entirely different story for the 28-year-old Kahnle, however. His average fastball velocity plummeted from 97.9 mph to 95 mph, and while that’s still plenty of heat, the near-three mile per hour drop is concerning all the same. Kahnle spent more than a month on the disabled list due to tendinitis in his right shoulder, and he’s allowed seven runs on six hits and a troubling 10 walks in nine innings when healthy. In addition to those 10 free passes, Kahlne has also snapped off a pair of wild pitches and seen his first-pitch strike rate drop from 62.1 percent in 2017 to 52.3 percent in 2018.
While it seems likely to be a short-term stay, the potential for service time ramifications does exist. Kahnle entered the season with just three years, 15 days of big league service time, meaning he’d need 157 days of service in 2018 to reach four years of service time and stay on track to become a free agent following the 2020 season. If he spends more than a month in the minors, that timeline would change, though it seems reasonable to expect the Yankees are hoping for a minimal stay in Scranton to get Kahnle’s command back on track.
Dodgers To Select Caleb Ferguson
The Dodgers are set to select the contract of left-handed pitching prospect Caleb Ferguson, as J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group tweets. The news first got out, it seems, when Ferguson’s mother announced it on Facebook (though Hoornsta notes that he’s confirmed the promotion himself as well). The Dodgers have a full 40-man roster, so they’ll need to make a corresponding move to add him to the roster.
[Related: Los Angeles Dodgers depth chart]
Ferguson, 21, entered the season ranked 15th among Dodgers farmhands, per Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis of MLB.com. Tommy John surgery in high school caused him to drop to the 38th round of the draft, but he’s steadily risen through the Dodgers’ minor league ranks as he’s mended and rebuilt his arm strength. After dominating Double-A opponents with a 1.38 ERA, 40 strikeouts and 10 walks through 39 innings, Ferguson was moved up to Triple-A for a brief eight-inning stint before now ascending to the game’s highest level.
The addition of Ferguson will give Los Angeles an option to start on Wednesday this week. The Dodgers currently have an entire rotation’s worth of talent on the DL (and a very good rotation, at that) with Clayton Kershaw, Kenta Maeda, Rich Hill, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Julio Urias all on the shelf at at the moment. As such, if Ferguson is indeed called upon to start, he’ll step into the rotation alongside Alex Wood, Ross Stripling and fellow rookies Walker Buehler and Dennis Santana. It could be a simple spot start regardless, as the Dodgers have a pair of off-days next week that’ll allow them to skip the fifth spot in the rotation.
Orioles Claim D.J. Snelten
The Orioles announced that they’ve claimed left-hander D.J. Snelten off waivers from the Giants. Baltimore had an open spot on its 40-man roster, so no corresponding move was necessary. Snelten has been assigned to Triple-A Norfolk for the time being.
[Related: Updated Baltimore Orioles depth chart]
The 26-year-old Snelten is listed at a towering 6’7″ and 245 pounds, and he entered the season ranked as the Giants’ ninth-best prospect, per Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs. While he doesn’t throw especially hard, Snelten possesses an above-average changeup and has performed reasonably well in the upper minors. He allowed five earned runs in 4 1/3 innings in his MLB debut this season but comes to the Orioles organization with a career 2.84 ERA, 7.5 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 69 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level. Longenhagen’s scouting report notes that Snelten’s size and unorthodox delivery help him succeed against same-handed batters, while the changeup gives him a viable weapon to use against right-handed opponents.
Snelten was only just selected to the 40-man roster this past offseason, so he has two option years remaining beyond the 2018 campaign. He can be shuttled between Norfolk and Baltimore to lend some depth to the Orioles’ staff, and with several trade candidates in the Baltimore ‘pen, it’s possible that a spot will eventually open for Snelten to receive a lengthier look.
Tigers Re-Sign Gerson Moreno, Outright Pete Kozma
The Tigers announced today that they’ve re-signed right-hander Gerson Moreno to a minor league contract and sent Pete Kozma outright to Triple-A after he cleared waivers.
Detroit released the 22-year-old Moreno last week to open a spot on the 40-man roster, and it was later revealed by GM Al Avila that the promising young pitching prospect required Tommy John surgery. By releasing him, Detroit was able to create a needed 40-man vacancy but keep him in the organization. Both MLB.com and Fangraphs ranked him among the organization’s top 30 prospects entering the season, with Eric Longenhagen calling him a potential setup man whose fastball can touch 99 mph. Moreno has averaged better than 11 strikeouts per nine innings over the past two seasons, but he struggled to a 5.29 ERA and averaged 7.4 walks per nine innings in 2018 before undergoing season-ending surgery.
Kozma, meanwhile, was designated for assignment last week when the Tigers activated Miguel Cabrera from the disabled list. He’d been serving in a utility role for Detroit, but the Tigers have since called up 26-year-old Ronny Rodriguez, who’d been hitting quite well in Triple-A Toledo and can fill that same utility role on their roster. The 30-year-old Kozma hit .175/.195/.300 in 41 plate appearances for the Tigers this season before being cut from the 40-man roster. He has the ability to reject the outright assignment in favor of free agency, though Detroit’s announcement gave no indication that the former Cardinals shortstop has any plans to do so.
Tigers Sign Junichi Tazawa To Minor League Deal
The Tigers have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran reliever Junichi Tazawa, per a club announcement. (The move was first noted on Twitter by Roster Roundup.) The righty was released by the Marlins after being designated for assignment last month.
Tazawa, who’ll turn 32 later this week, signed what proved to be an ill-fated two-year, $12MM deal with Miami in the 2016-17 offseason. The former Red Sox setup man struggled enough with the Fish that he couldn’t hold his roster spot through the life of that deal, however. After posting a 5.69 ERA in 55 1/3 innings last season, he opened the 2018 campaign by allowing 20 earned runs in 20 inning of work.
After averaging better than a strikeout per inning with the Red Sox from 2009-16, Tazawa’s strikeout numbers fell off sharply in 2017. He posted a 6.2 K/9 mark and 16 percent overall strikeout rate — each the lowest full-season levels of his MLB career. His strikeouts returned in 2018 — 24 in 20 innings — but he also issued 13 walks and served up six homers with the Marlins. Beyond that, his average fastball velocity sat at a career-low 91.5 mph, and his swinging-strike rate (7.8 percent) and chase rate (28.4 percent) were also career-worsts.
Despite Tazawa’s considerable struggles over the past two seasons, adding him to their Triple-A ranks is a no-risk proposition for the Tigers. The balance of his $7MM salary for the 2018 season will be paid out by the Marlins, so Detroit will only be on the hook for the pro-rated league minimum for any time he spends at the big league level. (That sum would subsequently be subtracted from what the Marlins owe Tazawa.) If he’s able to rebound to any extent, he’ll step up to the big league level to help out a Tigers bullpen that currently ranks 25th in the Majors with a 4.66 ERA.
Marlins Release Jacob Turner
The Marlins have released right-hander Jacob Turner from their Triple-A affiliate, as was first noted on the Pacific Coast League’s transactions page. He’d opened the year on the team’s active roster but previously been designated for assignment and outrighted.
Turner, 27, appeared in four games for the Marlins’ big league club this season and surrendered 10 runs in 5 2/3 innings while tallying more walks (five) than strikeouts (two). Since being outrighted to New Orleans in early April, the former No. 9 overall pick (2009, Tigers) and top prospect has gone through a rough stretch in Triple-A as well. In 21 2/3 innings, he’s logged a 5.82 ERA with a 17-to-8 K/BB ratio, four home runs allowed and a 48 percent ground-ball rate.
Of course, even including that ugly run, Turner has a career 4.24 ERA in 357 innings at the Triple-A level, and he’s made a total of 55 Major League starts (plus 56 relief appearances) between the Marlins, Tigers, Nationals, Cubs and White Sox. As such, he’ll likely have other opportunities to latch on with another organization as a depth option in the upper minors.
Minor MLB Transactions: 6/3/18
Sunday’s minor moves from around the game:
- The Mets have assigned Scott Copeland to Double-A after the right-hander cleared waivers, The Athletic’s Tim Healey reports (Twitter link). Copeland was designated for assignment on Friday after just a two-day stint in the majors, though he did chalk up his first MLB appearance since the 2015 season. The 30-year-old has a 3.22 ERA over 22 1/3 IP (all as a starter) at the Double-A level this season.
- The Diamondbacks have acquired right-handed reliever Brad Goldberg from the White Sox for cash considerations, per Scott Merkin of MLB.com and Zach Buchanan of The Athletic. Goldberg, 28, will now head to his second organization after initially joining Chicago in the 10th round of the 2013 draft. The hard thrower debuted in the majors last year with 12 innings of 8.25 ERA ball, but other than that, he has worked exclusively in the minors (including a 22 1/3-inning run at Double-A this season). Goldberg owns a 3.07 ERA with 9.0 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9 in 91 Triple-A innings.