Dodgers Claim Erik Goeddel From Mariners, Sign Tyler Goeddel
The Dodgers have claimed right-handed reliever Erik Goeddel off waivers from the Mariners, reports J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group (via Twitter). He was designated for assignment earlier this week. Because he’s out of minor league options, he’ll be added to the MLB bullpen. It’s also worth noting that the Dodgers signed Goeddel’s younger brother, Tyler Goeddel, to a minor league contract yesterday, as reflected on the league’s transactions page.
The elder Goeddel, 29, had previously spent his career with the Mets organization before landing in Seattle this offseason. The righty was off to a nice start in the Seattle ‘pen, tossing 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball with nine strikeouts, though he also issued five walks and threw a pair of wild pitches. His average fastball velocity, too, was down about a half mile per hour from 2017 and a mile per hour from its peak levels.
Erik entered the 2018 season with a lifetime 3.96 ERA, 9.4 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 104 2/3 MLB innings, though the majority of his best work came in 2014-15. Over the past two seasons, he struggled to a 4.87 ERA at the MLB level, maintaining his penchant for missing bats but also demonstrating shaky control and a proclivity for surrendering home runs. Walks have been an ongoing issue for him throughout his minor league tenure (4.2 BB/9 in 131 Triple-A innings), but home runs haven’t plagued him in the minors.
As for the younger of the two brothers, the 25-year-old Tyler was the 41st pick in the 2011 MLB Draft and the No. 1 pick in the 2015 Rule 5 Draft. The outfielder struggled with the Phillies in his lone big league season, though, hitting just .192/.258/.291 in 234 trips to the plate. He’s a career .263/.344/.358 hitter in 310 Triple-A plate appearances and had been with the Reds’ Triple-A affiliate to open the year before being released.
Alex Presley Granted Release By Orioles
May 18: The Orioles ultimately decided against adding Presley to the roster, and he is now a free agent after being granted his release, MLBTR has learned.
May 15: Veteran outfielder Alex Presley, currently in Triple-A with the Orioles, intends to exercise the May 15 out clause on his minor league contract, MLBTR has learned (Twitter link). The clause will give the O’s 48 hours to select his contract and add him to the Major League roster. If he’s not added in that window, he’ll be unconditionally released and able to seek a new opportunity elsewhere.
It’s not clear yet how the O’s will proceed, though it’s not hard to see how they could fit a left-handed option into the outfield mix. Trey Mancini, Adam Jones, Mark Trumbo, Joey Rickard and Craig Gentry are all on the big league roster at present, but each hits right-handed. Currently, the only lefty options in the outfield for the O’s would be Jace Peterson, Pedro Alvarez and Chris Davis, though each is primarily an infielder and has only sparse experience playing in the outfield.
Presley, 32, is off to a .288/.362/.385 start to the season in Norfolk with a 21.5 percent strikeout rate and a 9.4 percent walk rate. While he’s struggled to produce consistently in the Majors across parts of eight seasons, he did turn in a .314/.354/.416 slash in 264 plate appearances with the Tigers last year. In all, he’s a career .263/.306/.388 hitter in the Majors in addition to owning a .296/.362/.426 slash in parts of eight seasons at the Triple-A level.
Braves Release Ezequiel Carrera
The Braves released outfielder Ezequiel Carrera from the organization, per an announcement from the team’s Triple-A affiliate in Gwinnett. Carrera was released by the Blue Jays in Spring Training and joined the Braves on a minor league pact later that month. He’ll now once again survey his options on the open market.
Carrera, 30, was reasonably productive for the Blue Jays in a part-time role from 2016-17, hitting a combined .266/.340/.382 with 14 homers and 17 steals in 635 plate appearances. He has experience at all three outfield slots, though defensive metrics generally view his center-field work in a negative light while looking more favorably on his work in the corners.
This season has been a struggle for Carrera, however. In 93 plate appearances for Gwinnett, he limped to a .146/.228/.220 slash. On the plus side for Carrera, he went 7-for-7 in steals in Triple-A, and much of his difficulty looks to be the product of a .177 average on balls in play. His 21 percent strikeout rate and 10 percent walk rate both suggest that his approach at the plate isn’t markedly different from recent seasons, and given his career .275/.344/.368 line in parts of nine Triple-A seasons, it’s reasonable to expect that he’ll bounce back over a larger sample of at-bats.
Mariners Select Contract Of Ryan Cook
The Mariners announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contract of right-handed reliever Ryan Cook from Triple-A Tacoma. Fellow righty Christian Bergman, who pitched quite well in a spot start for Seattle yesterday, was optioned back to Triple-A to clear space on the roster for Cook’s promotion. The Mariners now have 39 players on their 40-man roster.
This will mark the first appearance in the Majors for Cook, a former All-Star, since the 2015 season. His career has been slowed considerably by injuries in recent years, as a lat strain wiped out his 2016 season, and he underwent Tommy John surgery that October, shelving him for the entirety of the 2017 season as well.
Now 30 years old, Cook is off to an outstanding start in Tacoma, where he’s yielded just three runs on 10 hits and three walks with 17 strikeouts in 13 1/3 innings of work. Cook hasn’t allowed a homer so far this season, and he’s inducing grounders at a healthy 53.1 percent clip.
That sort of output was par for the course for Cook early on in his career. From 2011-14 with the A’s, he racked up 190 2/3 innings of 2.60 ERA ball, averaging 9.3 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9 with average or better ground-ball rates along the way. If he’s fully healthy, he’ll be a welcome addition to the back of a Seattle bullpen that has struggled of late. Juan Nicasio, in particular, has fallen into a dreadful slump after pitching well in April.
If Cook is able to return to form, the Mariners will control him not only for the 2018 season but also through the 2019 campaign. He entered the year with four-plus years of Major League service time, so he’ll be arbitration-eligible once more this offseason.
Marlins Designate Junichi Tazawa For Assignment
The Marlins announced Thursday that they’ve designated veteran right-hander Junichi Tazawa for assignment and also optioned righty Tyler Cloyd to Triple-A New Orleans. Corresponding roster moves tomorrow will be announced tomorrow.
Tazawa, who’ll turn 32 in early June, was signed to a two-year, $12MM contract in the 2016-17 offseason as the Marlins sought to bolster the back of their bullpen in free agency. (Brad Ziegler, too, was signed to a two-year deal that winter.) Instead, however, Tazawa’s time in Miami has been nothing short of nightmarish. After a long run as a solid setup man and middle relief piece in Boston, Tazawa turned in a 5.69 ERA in 55 1/3 innings last season and has surrendered 20 earned runs in 20 innings thus far in 2018.
Tazawa’s strikeout numbers fell off sharply in 2017, as 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 have returned in 2018 — 24 in 20 innings — but he’s also issued 13 walks and served up six homers, including one long ball in today’s game. Beyond that, while Tazawa is picking up some strikeouts at the moment, his average fastball velocity is sitting at a career-low 91.5 mph, and his swinging-strike rate (7.8 percent) and chase rate (28.4 percent) are also career-worsts. Given that context, it seems that his strikeout rate was likely due for some regression anyhow.
Miami will still owe Tazawa the balance of this year’s $7MM salary — a total of about $5.17MM through season’s end. They’ll have a week to trade, outright or release Tazawa, though it seems decidedly unlikely that another club would have interest in paying any portion of that remaining sum. Tazawa has enough service time to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency without forfeiting the remainder of his salary, as well, so the likeliest outcome is that he’ll be released and seek a fresh start in a new organization (almost certainly on a minor league deal). Any club that signs Tazawa will only owe him the pro-rated portion of the league minimum for any time he spends in the Majors. That sum would be subtracted from what the Marlins owe him through season’s end.
Cardinals Place Carson Kelly On 10-Day DL, Select Steve Baron
2:28 pm: Veteran righty Adam Wainwright is moving to the 60-day DL to create roster space, the team announced.
1:55pm: The Cardinals have placed catcher Carson Kelly on the 10-day DL with a hamstring injury, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports on Twitter. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by fellow backstop Steve Baron, which will mandate a still-undetermined 40-man roster move.
Kelly, 23, has long been seen as the heir apparent to Yadier Molina, who is himself on the shelf at the moment. But Kelly has struggled offensively in his limited MLB action over the past there years. This season, he has mustered only two singles in 19 plate appearances.
Francisco Pena has appeared in a dozen games, making him the most-used catcher other than Molina, who’s expected to be out until at least early June. In the meantime, Baron will help hold down the fort. The 27-year-old, a former first-round pick, has appeared briefly in the majors once before. He signed a minors deal with the Cards and was off to an ugly .153/.167/.186 slash in sixty plate appearances at Triple-A.
Red Sox To Sign Josh Smith
The Red Sox have reportedly agreed to a minor-league deal with righty Josh Smith. The Roster Roundup Twitter account (link) first conveyed the move, which Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com confirms on Twitter.
Smith was released recently by the Mariners after originally joining the Seattle organization on a minors deal. The 30-year-old had allowed seven earned runs on 17 hits in 10 1/3 innings to open the season, compiled over one start and three relief appearances at Triple-A. He had also run up a much more promising 14:2 K/BB ratio.
It seems that Smith could function as bullpen/swingman depth for a Boston organization that has faced some questions in its relief unit. He has appeared in the majors in each of the past three seasons, working to a cumulative 5.30 ERA with 7.3 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9 over 127 1/3 innings.
Notably, if Smith ends up reporting to Triple-A Pawtucket, he’ll join another player of the same name on the roster. The Boston organization already employs lefty Josh Smith at its top affiliate.
Minor MLB Transactions: 5/16/18
Here are Wednesday’s minor moves from around the game…
- Right-hander Logan Bawcom is back with the Dodgers organization for a third stint after having his contract purchased from the Sugar Land Skeeters of the independent Atlantic League. The Dodgers’ Double-A affiliate in Tulsa announced the move, and Bawcom started for them today (two runs on six hits and no walks with four strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings). Now 29 years old, Bawcom was originally drafted by the Dodgers in the 17th round back in 2010, and he also spent the 2016 season in their system. Bawcom, still looking for his first call to the big leagues, has pitched rather well in the upper minors throughout his pro career. In 346 innings at the Triple-A level, he owns a 3.38 ERA with 7.5 K/9 against 3.7 BB/9 and ground-ball rates that typically sit in the 41 to 44 percent range.
- The Athletics released outfielder/first baseman Slade Heathcott from their Triple-A affiliate in Nashville, per the Pacific Coast League’s transactions page. The former first-round pick was once considered one of the Yankees’ best prospects, but he’s appeared in just 17 big league games and collected 30 plate appearances (albeit with a strong .400/.429/.720 slash to show for it). Strong production in his brief cup of coffee notwithstanding, Heathcott has never been much of a force in the upper minors. After tearing through Class-A Advanced as a 21-year-old (.314/.382/.486), he’s slashed .258/.329/.415 in 205 Double-A games and .263/.338/.358 in 177 Triple-A contests. His numbers with Nashville this season — .266/.333/.376 in 120 PAs — are a near mirror image of his career stats at that level.
Josh Edgin Exercises Opt-Out Clause With Orioles
Veteran left-handed reliever Josh Edgin has opted out of his minor league contract with the Orioles, tweets David Hall of the Virginian Pilot. Edgin, like outfielders Michael Saunders (link) and Alex Presley (link) before him, triggered a May 15 opt-out date is his contract.
If Edgin’s clause is the same as that of Presley, Baltimore will have 48 hours to add him to the roster or release him to pursue other opportunities. The organization already announced that Saunders has been released, whereas there’s yet to be a formal announcement regarding either Edgin or Presley.
The 31-year-old Edgin inked a minor league pact with Baltimore this offseason after previously spending the entirety of his pro career in the Mets organization. Edgin missed the 2015 season and much of the 2016 campaign due to Tommy John surgery but was otherwise a fairly regular fixture in the Mets’ bullpen dating back to his MLB debut in 2012. The lefty has a career 3.49 ERA with 8.1 K/9, 3.6 BB/9, 0.9 HR/9 and a 45.1 percent ground-ball rate in 129 innings at the big league level.
Last season, Edgin tossed a career-high 37 innings for the Mets and posted a 3.65 ERA that’s right in line with his career mark, though his strikeout and walk rates weren’t as sharp as they were prior to his surgery. In those 37 frames, he averaged just 6.6 K/9 against an elevated 4.4 BB/9 with an average fastball velocity of 91.3 mph, which checks in more than a full mile per hour south of his peak pre-surgery levels. Those were likely some of the factors the Mets took into consideration when ultimately deciding to non-tender Edgin in the offseason.
This year with the Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate in Norfolk, he’s pitched 18 2/3 innings with an outstanding 25-to-5 K/BB ratio (with two of those free passes being issued intentionally) and an excellent 59.6 percent ground-ball rate. Given that start and his track record, Edgin should generate interest elsewhere even if he doesn’t ultimately end up in the Baltimore bullpen.
Mariners Designate Erik Goeddel, Select Christian Bergman
The Mariners have designated righty Erik Goeddel, per a club announcement. That’ll create roster space for the M’s to select the contract of fellow right-hander Christian Bergman.
It’s a tough result for Goeddel, 29, who had allowed just one earned run on four hits in his 5 1/3 MLB innings this year while recording seven strikeouts and a pair of walks. He threw nine scoreless frames at Triple-A to open the year after joining the M’s late in camp.
As for the 30-year-old Bergman, he’ll look to carry over his successes thus far at Triple-A into the majors. He has generally struggled in prior attempts at the bigs, but is carrying a healthy 3.40 ERA with a 41:12 K/BB ratio through 45 frames on at Tacoma.