Lane Adams Elects Free Agency
Outfielder Lane Adams has elected free agency rather than accepting an outright assignment from the Braves, per David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Twitter). He had already cleared waivers after recently being designated for assignment.
Adams has been a useful asset for the Braves since joining the organization on a minor-league deal in advance of the 2017 season. He has carried a .264/.338/.450 slash line with six home runs in 146 total plate appearances since being called up this time last year.
Of course, that’s obviously not a terribly significant amount of playing time. It’s worth noting, too, that Adams had been more a good than a great performer in the upper minors in recent seasons. (He owns a .721 OPS in 384 Triple-A plate appearances and a .777 mark in his 1,479 cumulative trips to the dish at the Double-A level.) And teams that bypassed Adams on the waiver wire were surely turned off by the fact that the 28-year-old cannot be optioned.
Still, the Braves no doubt would have preferred to hold onto Adams, who might well have been the first man up if a need had arisen at the MLB level. That said, with Ronald Acuna ascending, there just wasn’t an immediate need. Adams obviously decided he could find greater opportunity elsewhere.
Mets Claim Buddy Baumann
The Mets have claimed lefty Buddy Baumann off waivers from the Padres, per an announcement from the San Diego organization. He’ll switch between the organizations as they prepare to square off tonight, though Baumann will not be on the active roster for the series.
There are a few other moving parts for the Mets. Opening a 40-man spot was accomplished by shifting David Wright to the 60-day DL, which was more or less inevitable to occur at some point. The club will also bring up Jacob Rhame while optioning Corey Oswalt, a swap of relief arms for the weekend.
The 30-year-old Baumann could give the Mets another southpaw option in the bullpen, though he’ll have to show himself worthy of an opportunity first. He performed well in 17 2/3 MLB innings last year, allowing just four earned runs on 11 hits and seven walks while striking out 21 batters. And he turned in 6 2/3 scoreless innings this year at Triple-A, though he also allowed five walks in that span and was drubbed in his lone MLB appearance.
Angels Return Luke Bard To Twins
The Angels have returned Rule 5 pick Luke Bard to the Twins, per a club announcement. The reliever had been designated for assignment recently.
Bard, 27, has long been viewed as a high-upside relief arm. But he had managed only a 5.40 ERA in his first 11 2/3 innings at the MLB level. While Bard carried 10.0 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9 in that span, he also coughed up four long balls.
As they compete for a postseason spot, the Halos will not be able to afford the luxury of carrying a Rule 5 player who will not be an immediate contributor. Evidently, the club did not feel he was going to a valuable enough performer to hold down a bullpen spot the rest of the way.
That’s good news for the Twins, who’ll be able to hold onto their former first-round pick without occupying a 40-man spot. They’ll send $50K to Los Angeles to reacquire his rights. It seems there’s still reason to hope that Bard can turn into a quality MLB asset. He’s certainly dedicated to his craft, as an excellent chat with David Laurila of Fangraphs from earlier this year demonstrates.
Braves Designate Carlos Perez
The Braves have designated catcher Carlos Perez for assignment, per a club announcement. That move came as part of a series of decisions.
Fellow receiver Tyler Flowers will make his return from the DL, which left the team without a need for Perez. The Atlanta organization also elected to bring up righty Chase Whitley while optioning Matt Wisler back to Triple-A.
Perez had a chance to make a case to be retained by the Braves after being acquired from the Angels at the outset of the season. But he managed just three singles and a walk in his 22 plate appearances for the Braves. Though he has hit the ball well at times in the minors, Perez is just a .221/.264/.325 hitter over 617 total trips to the dish at the game’s highest level.
On the pitching side, the Braves will fill out their pen by calling upon Whitley, who was acquired from the Rays over the winter. He has thrown 12 1/3 innings of 3.65 ERA ball thus far at Triple-A, with ten strikeouts against three walks. A veteran of four MLB campaigns, two apiece with the Yankees and Rays, Whitley will be joining the Braves’ MLB roster for the first time.
As for Wisler, he raised hopes with a strong season debut in which he racked up eight strikeouts without issuing a walk in seven two-hit innings. But he coughed up three free passes, nine hits, and four earned runs without recording a single K in his next outing. For now, then, the former top prospect will head back to Gwinnett and wait for another opportunity.
After 310 total frames of 5.20 ERA ball in the majors, Wisler remains in a somewhat precarious roster position. That said the Braves have cleared several 40-man spots in recent weeks, so the pressure shouldn’t be felt immediately, particularly given the team’s ongoing need for rotation depth and the fact that Wisler’s first two outings at Triple-A were quite good.
Marlins Activate Martin Prado, Option Trevor Richards
The Marlins have activated third bagger Martin Prado from the DL, per a club announcement. To make way for the veteran, the club optioned intriguing young righty Trevor Richards.
Prado had been hoping to be ready for the Opening Day roster after undergoing season-ending knee surgery in 2017. But he suffered a setback in camp and evidently also had to battle through a hamstring strain. Issues in both of those areas limited him to just 37 games last year.
Hopefully the leg troubles are in the past for Prado, who had played in at least 128 games annually since establishing himself as a regular in 2009. He also had been a steadily above-average offensive producer over his career until the 2017 campaign, when he limped to a .250/.279/.357 slash in 147 plate appearances.
If Prado can reestablish himself over the next several months, he could turn back into a potential trade piece for the rebuilding Marlins. He’s owed a hefty $13.5MM this year and $15MM in 2019 under the extension he signed late in the 2016 season, though, so in all likelihood any deal would mostly convey some cost savings.
The third-base role that Prado left open had been filled well by Brian Anderson early in 2018. The 24-year-old, one of Miami’s most highly regarded prospects, has posted an impressive .385 on-base percentage through his first 104 plate appearances. Of course, he’s also sporting a decidedly less-promising .349 slugging percentage, though he has demonstrated more power than that in the minors (22 homers between Double-A and Triple-A last season).
Rather than dropping Anderson back to Triple-A, the plan is to use him elsewhere, as Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald writes. The Marlins are preparing Anderson to see time in the outfield and at first base so that they can keep him in the lineup. He’ll also spell Prado at the hot corner.
Richards, meanwhile, will head back to New Orleans — where he has actually never played. The indy ball find did burn through every other affiliate he was placed at over the past two seasons, compiling a 2.52 ERA with 9.5 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 in 200 1/3 cumulative minor-league frames (including 146 innings last year at the High-A and Double-A levels)
It’s unremarkable, on the one hand, to see a young starter with a 4.94 ERA and 9.1 K/9 against 5.3 BB/9 headed out on optional assignment. But Richards is fresh off of a ten-strikeout gem in which he got the better of the legendary Clayton Kershaw. For a Marlins club that isn’t exactly overloaded with quality MLB pitching — see their depth chart here — it’s a somewhat debatable decision, particularly with Dillon Peters still evidently holding a rotation spot. It’s worth noting that the move will allow the Marlins to keep Richards from achieving a full year of MLB service, if they hold him down long enough.
Outrighted: VerHagen, Socolovich
With several players currently in DFA limbo, we’ll keep track of those who’ve successfully cleared waivers here…
- The Tigers announced that righty Drew VerHagen cleared waivers and has been sent outright to Triple-A Toledo. The 27-year-old has struggled with the Tigers in each of the past few seasons, totaling 63 2/3 innings with a 6.25 ERA, 6.5 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9. But he also possesses a mid-90s heater that has added some velocity in 2018, and he’s made some meaningful gains in swinging-strike rate as well. Manager Ron Gardenhire told reporters this week that the organization maintains high hopes for VerHagen but simply didn’t feel it could continue to let him work on his control at the big league level given the overall state of the Tigers’ bullpen.
- Right-hander Miguel Socolovich has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Gwinnett by the Braves for a second time this season, per the International League transactions log. He was designated for assignment earlier this week when the Braves called up Max Fried — second DFA from Atlanta in the season’s first month. Socolovich has the right to reject the assignment in favor of free agency, though he accepted the outright last time around. The 31-year-old has tossed three innings in his two stints with Atlanta and allowed three runs on three hits and a walk with three strikeouts. In 85 2/3 career innings at the MLB level, Socolovich owns a 4.41 ERA with 7.6 K/9 against 3.0 BB/9. He has a career 3.28 ERA in Triple-A, where he’s averaged nearly 10 strikeouts per nine innings pitched.
Athletics Option Kendall Graveman
The Athletics announced this afternoon that they’ve optioned Opening Day starter Kendall Graveman to Triple-A Nashville. Fellow righty Chris Bassitt is also being optioned to Triple-A, while recently acquired reliever Wilmer Font has been added to the active roster. The A’s will announce another move tomorrow (perhaps Yusmeiro Petit being activated from the bereavement list, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle suggests).
The move comes as somewhat of a surprise given Graveman’s standing in the organization. The 27-year-old has been a reliable member of the starting five (when healthy) dating back to the 2015 season, pitching to a 4.11 ERA through 407 innings from 2015-17.
Thus far, the 2018 campaign has proven to be a nightmare for Graveman, however. In 28 1/3 innings, Graveman has allowed 28 earned runs on 41 hits (seven homers) and 11 walks with 23 strikeouts. No pitcher in Major League Baseball has allowed more hits or earned runs, and Graveman’s seven homers trail only Cole Hamels for the MLB lead. (Hamels has tossed 6 1/3 more innings.)
[Related: Oakland Athletics depth chart]
Graveman entered the season with three years, 14 days of Major League service time, putting him on track to reach free agency after the completion of the 2020 season. He needs to accumulate a total of 158 days of big league service time in 2018 in order to surpass four years of service and remain on track for that free agency date, which should still be attainable unless the demotion proves to be an especially lengthy one. He’d need to spend about a full month in the minors in order to miss out on the requisite service time for free agency that offseason.
With Graveman temporarily out of the rotation, the A’s have Sean Manaea, Daniel Mengden, Trevor Cahill and Andrew Triggs holding starting jobs. There’s been no announcement as to who’ll step into his spot, but righty Daniel Gossett has pitched well in two starts since being optioned to Nashville. Flamethrowing Frankie Montas is also starting down in Nashville and is on the 40-man roster, though he’s gotten off to a poor start. Veteran lefty Brett Anderson is also with Oakland’s Triple-A affiliate and throwing well — 1.89 ERA, 25-to-2 K/BB ratio in 19 innings — and the A’s have an open 40-man roster spot to accommodate him if he is the preferred option.
Minor MLB Transactions: 4/26/18
Here are Thursday’s minor moves from around the game…
- The Pirates have traded minor league outfielder Todd Cunningham to the White Sox, per a club announcement. John Dreker of PiratesProspects.com first broke news of the trade (via Twitter). The Bucs will receive a player to be named later in return. The 29-year-old Cunningham spent parts of three seasons in the Majors with the Braves (2013, 2015) and Angels (2016) but struggled to a .207/.256/.264 slash through 130 plate appearances. He’s off to a rough start in Triple-A this season but turned in an excellent .284/.404/.414 batting line in 358 plate appearances between the Cardinals’ and Dodgers’ top affiliates in 2017. In all, the 2010 second-round pick is a career .274/.356/.372 hitter in nearly 2200 Triple-A plate appearances.
White Sox Outright Casey Gillaspie
The White Sox have outrighted first baseman Casey Gillaspie, per a club announcement. That opens a spot on the 40-man roster that has yet to be filled.
Gillaspie, a former first-round pick of the Rays back in 2014, was acquired last summer in the deal that sent Dan Jennings to Tampa Bay. The South Siders placed Gillaspie on the 40-man roster over the offseason to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.
Since the start of 2017, however, the switch-hitting Gillaspie has mostly struggled. He is off to a miserable .214/.263/.229 start at the plate this year at Triple-A Charlotte, with 29 strikeouts and no home runs through 76 trips to the dish.
Indians Place Andrew Miller On 10-Day DL, Purchase Contract Of Jeff Beliveau
The Indians have announced that star reliever Andrew Miller is heading to the 10-day DL with a strained hamstring. Replacing him on the active roster will be southpaw Jeff Beliveau, while fellow lefty Jack Leathersich was designated for assignment to open a 40-man spot.
Miller suffered the injury in last night’s game. Its full severity is not yet known, so it’s also unclear how long he’ll be down. The 32-year-old has been in typically dominant form thus far in 2018, producing a 17:4 K/BB ratio in ten scoreless innings.
He’ll be replaced for the time being with Beliveau, who had joined the Cleveland organization on a minors deal over the offseason. The 31-year-old had a compelling but brief run in the Rays bullpen back in 2014 but has since been ineffective in limited opportunities at the game’s highest level.
That said, Beliveau did record 17 strikeouts in his 15 2/3 innings last year with the Blue Jays. And he was off to quite the start this year at Triple-A. In 8 2/3 frames over seven appearances, the former 18th-round pick has racked up 14 punchouts while permitting two hits, one walk, and no runs.
As for Leathersich, who was claimed from the Pirates late this spring, he has not shown well in his time at Columbus. The 27-year-old has recorded nine strikeouts and has allowed just three hits through five frames over seven appearances, but has also permitted six earned runs by virtue of issuing seven free passes.