Orioles Select Contract Of Luis Sardinas
The Orioles have selected the contract of infielder Luis Sardinas, per a club announcement. With the move, the club has filled its 40-man roster.
Sardinas, 24, spent much of the 2017 season playing at Triple-A with the Orioles. He turned in 331 plate appearances of .319/.348/.419 hitting at Norfolk, which is the best stretch of offensive output in his career.
Of course, it would not be realistic to expect anything approaching that performance in the majors. Sardinas owns a less-than-ideal .229/.278/.293 slash in his 480 lifetime plate appearances at the game’s highest level. He is, however, held in higher regard for his fielding.
Baltimore will look to Sardinas to occupy a utility role off of the bench for as long as he’s in the majors. The organization already has another light-hitting, glove-first infielder on hand in Engelb Vielma, but evidently decided to boost its depth with Jonathan Schoop going on the DL.
Brewers Claim Alec Asher From Dodgers
The Brewers announced that they’ve claimed right-hander Alec Asher off waivers from the Dodgers and optioned him to Triple-A Colorado Springs. Milwaukee had an open spot on its 40-man roster, so no corresponding move is necessary.
Asher, 26, made six starts and 18 relief appearances for the Orioles last year, working to a total of 60 innings with a 47-to-23 K/BB. While the righty demonstrated an ability to pitch out of both the rotation and bullpen in multi-inning stints, he struggled to a 5.25 ERA and yielded 10 homers in last year’s 60 frames with the O’s. Asher does sport a quality 3.75 ERA in 170 1/3 innings of Triple-A work, where he’s averaged 6.4 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9. That he has a minor league option remaining only makes him more appealing. He can be shuttled back and forth from Triple-A this season as the Brewers see fit.
With the Dodgers, Asher saw just one game in Triple-A, during which he worked three innings and allowed an earned run on three hits and no walks with one strikeout.
Rays Select Contract Of Brandon Snyder, Place Matt Duffy On DL
The Rays have selected the contract of infielder Brandon Snyder and placed third baseman Matt Duffy on the 10-day disabled list, tweets MLB.com’s Bill Chastain. Kevin Kiermaier, who is undergoing thumb surgery and figures to miss upwards of three months, was moved to the 60-day disabled list to open a 40-man spot for Snyder.
Duffy exited yesterday’s game with discomfort in his hamstring. The infielder told reporters that the injury isn’t serious, and it seems as if he expects to return after a minimal stay on the disabled list (Twitter link via Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times). Snyder and Daniel Robertson could pick up the bulk of the at-bats at the hot corner in his absence.
Snyder, 31, will get the call to the big leagues over some potential longer-term options for the Rays — most notably Christian Arroyo, whom the team acquired in the offseason Evan Longoria trade with the Giants. Arroyo hasn’t exactly come out of the gates and forced his way into big league consideration, posting just a .499 OPS through the season’s first few games.
Snyder will be stepping onto a big league field for the first time since 2016, when he made 47 plate appearances for the rebuilding Braves. The former Orioles prospect was the 13th overall pick back in the 2005 draft but has yet to tally even 70 plate appearances in a single big league season. He’s a career .242/.279/.459 hitter with nine homers in just 205 big league plate appearances and a .259/.326/.426 hitter in 2353 Triple-A plate appearances.
Minor MLB Transactions: 4/17/18
Here are Tuesday’s minor moves from around the game…
- The Tigers re-signed catcher Kade Scivicque to a minor league contract and assigned him to Double-A Erie yesterday, as Tom Reisenweber of the Erie Times-News first tweeted. The 25-year-old Scivicque was Detroit’s fourth-round pick back in 2015, but the Tigers shipped him to the Braves in the 2016 trade that netted them veteran infielder Erick Aybar. Scivicque hit .270/.326/.365 between the Braves’ Double-A and Triple-A affiliates last season and threw out 27 percent of opposing base thieves while posting slightly below-average framing marks, per Baseball Prospectus. With Grayson Greiner and Jarrod Saltalamacchia occupying catching spots for the Tigers’ Triple-A affiliate in Toledo, Scivicque will head to Double-A despite posting respectable numbers in Gwinnett last season.
Derek Norris Reportedly Agrees To Deal With Sugar Land Skeeters
Veteran catcher Derek Norris has signed on with the Sugar Land Skeeters, as Mick Reinhard of Mayflies & Big Flies first reported on Twitter. The organization has yet to announce the move.
Based upon his MLB experience alone, Norris would surely command a spot at the top affiliate of some organization. The 29-year-old has appeared in 610 games over the past six seasons, after all. And he hit as well as could be hoped in limited action this spring — 7-for-17 with a home run — after joining the Tigers on a minor-league deal.
Though Norris has struggled quite a bit at the plate in recent seasons, with a .190/.256/.343 slash since the start of 2016, teams are always on the hunt for catching depth. In that regard, it’s surprising at first glance to hear that Norris was forced onto the indy ball circuit. That said, the recent domestic violence allegations against Norris that led to league discipline — and the controversial manner in which he and the Tigers addressed the matter this spring — may well have been a consideration for other affiliated organizations.
Rangers Acquire Tony Sanchez
The Rangers have acquired backstop Tony Sanchez from the Reds, both teams announced. Cash or a player to be named later will head back in return.
Once a highly-regarded prospect with the Pirates, the 29-year-old Sanchez has settled in as an upper-level depth piece. He’ll head to the Rangers’ top affiliate to take the place of Brett Nicholas, who was recently dealt to the Padres.
Sanchez has just 156 total plate appearances at the MLB level in four seasons of action, over which he carries a .257/.301/.375 batting line. He spent the bulk of 2017 at the Triple-A level with the Angels organization, where he posted a .272/.355/.374 slash with four long balls in 284 trips to the plate.
Nationals Select Contract Of Jeremy Hellickson
The Nationals announced that they’ve selected the contract of veteran right-hander Jeremy Hellickson and transferred catcher Jhonatan Solano to the 60-day disabled list (bone chips in right elbow) to create a spot on the 40-man roster. The Nats opened an active roster spot for Hellickson, who’ll start tonight’s game, by optioning righty Trevor Gott to Triple-A Syracuse.
Hellickson, 31, will step into the fifth spot of the Nats’ rotation in place of struggling right-hander A.J. Cole, who has been tagged for a dozen runs on 13 hits (four homers) and five walks through his first nine innings of the season. Cole couldn’t be sent to the minors to clear space for Hellickson due to the fact that he’s out of minor league options and would’ve first needed to be exposed to waivers. As such, he’ll head to the bullpen for now.
Hellickson will be eyeing a rebound from a disastrous 2017 season that saw him struggle with the Phillies before completely coming unglued following a trade to the Orioles. In 51 2/3 innings with the O’s down the stretch, the 2011 AL Rookie of the Year allowed an average of 2.26 home runs per nine innings pitched while notching just 5.40 strikeouts against 2.96 walks per nine frames. The resulting 6.97 ERA and overall body of Hellickson’s struggles were concerning enough that he had to settle for a minor league contract with an invite to MLB camp with the Nats in free agency this winter.
Of course, Hellickson isn’t far removed from a full season of work as a quality big league starter. Pitching for the division-rival Phillies in 2016, Hellickson parlayed 189 innings of 3.71 ERA ball with 7.33 K/9, 2.14 BB/9, 1.14 HR/9 and a 40.7 percent grounder rate into a $17.2MM qualifying offer. He accepted that QO rather than testing the open market but wasn’t able to further build his stock and cash in on a multi-year pact as he likely hoped.
Yankees Re-Sign Jace Peterson To Major League Contract
The Yankees announced that they’ve re-signed infielder/outfielder Jace Peterson to a Major League contract. The ISE Baseball client will be active for tonight’s game.
New York designated Peterson for assignment last week, and the 27-year-old formally rejected an outright assignment to Triple-A today in favor of free agency. Obviously, the two sides quickly worked to broker a new pact that’ll at least buy Peterson a bit more big league service time, though it still seems likely to be a short-term move.
Peterson collected three hits in 10 trips to the plate with the Yankees in his brief time at the Major League level with them, though the bulk of his career has been spent with the Braves. Atlanta originally acquired Peterson as part of the trade that sent Justin Upton to the Padres, and he spent parts of three seasons there, hitting a combined .240/.326/.342 with 15 homers, 48 doubles and eight triples in 1220 MLB plate appearances.
It’s a bit curious to see Peterson go through this carousel of roster machinations, though the entire scenario comes down to the fact that the Yankees needed his roster spot earlier last week in order to add another center-field option to their injury-depleted outfield mix. Peterson’s roster spot went to Shane Robinson, who was quickly designated once Aaron Hicks was active. With a healthier outfield mix now in place, Peterson again fits into the Yankees’ short-term plans, though the impending return of Brandon Drury and the eventual promotion of Gleyber Torres makes it unlikely that he’ll be around as a long-term bench piece in the Bronx.
J.J. Hoover Elects Free Agency
April 16: The Brewers announced this afternoon that Hoover has rejected his outright assignment and will instead elect free agency.
April 15: Veteran reliever J.J. Hoover is staying with the Brewers after being designated for assignment earlier this week, per Adam McCalvy of MLB.com (Twitter link). The 30-year-old right-hander will head to Triple-A Colorado Springs.
Hoover, whom the Brewers added on a minor league pact in January, joined the big club on April 7. He then made two appearances, including a nightmarish second one against the Cardinals this past Tuesday. Hoover picked up both a blown save and a loss after surrendering three earned runs on four hits and a walk in an inning of work. As a result of that disastrous showing, he lost his place on Milwaukee’s 40- and 25-man rosters.
Since debuting with the Reds in 2012, Hoover has enjoyed some success in the majors – including in 2017. As a member of the Diamondbacks last season, Hoover threw 41 1/3 innings of 3.92 ERA ball and notched 11.76 K/9. However, a 5.66 BB/9 and a 32.8 percent groundball rate helped prevent him from landing a major league deal over the winter. Hoover will now attempt to work his way back to the Brewers via the minors.
Jace Peterson Elects Free Agency
Yankees infielder Jace Peterson has elected free agency after clearing waivers, Chris Cotillo of SB Nation reports via Twitter. The 27-year-old Peterson was designated for assignment on Tuesday to make room for Shane Robinson, who has since been outrighted off the club’s roster.
It’s certainly been a steady fall from prospect status for Peterson, who not long ago was considered a potential second baseman of the future for a Braves club that acquired him as one of the key pieces in the second Justin Upton trade. Though he seemed to have some upside as a utility player as recently as last season, he’s only got a .234/.320/.331 career batting line. That’s likely a large part of the reason that the Braves decided to non-tender him this past winter rather than pay him a relatively meager projected salary of $1.1MM.
Peterson wasn’t given much of a chance with the Yankees, even though he collected a walk and three hits during his brief ten plate appearance tenure in the Bronx. He came up to fill in around the infield when Brandon Drury was placed on the DL, but the presence of Ronald Torreyes made him expendable. Peterson will now seek to latch on with a new club in need of a utility infielder.