Brewers Claim Dylan Baker From Indians
The Brewers announced that they’ve claimed righty Dylan Baker off waivers from the Indians. Baker was designated for assignment last week as part of Cleveland’s slew of moves in advance of the deadline to set 40-man rosters in advance of the Rule 5 Draft.
The 25-year-old Baker hasn’t pitched much since the 2015 season due to Tommy John surgery and other injuries. The 2012 fifth-rounder has tossed just 21 1/3 innings across three levels in the past three minor league seasons combined, though he’s posted a 3.58 ERA in 241 2/3 innings in his minor league career when healthy. With Baker’s addition, the Brewers now have a full 40-man roster.
Reds Claim Kyle Crockett From Indians
The Reds announced on Monday that they’ve claimed left-handed reliever Kyle Crockett off waivers from the Indians. Crockett, 25, was designated for assignment in Cleveland last week as the team set its 40-man roster in advance of the Rule 5 Draft.
Crockett was a fourth-round pick back in 2013 and was the first player from that draft class to reach the Majors, debuting in 2014. While he turned in a promising 1.80 ERA with 8.4 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9 in 30 innings that season, he’s struggled to a 4.84 ERA with 8.7 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9 in 35 1/3 big league innings since then. To his credit, Crockett has allowed just a minuscule three homers in 65 1/3 MLB innings and has held lefties to a .614 OPS in 167 plate appearances. Righties have knocked him around at a .280/.373/.452 clip, though.
The addition of Crockett fills Cincinnati’s 40-man roster.
Athletics, Jake Smolinski Avoid Arbitration
The A’s have avoided arbitration with outfielder Jake Smolinski, reports MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes (on Twitter). Smolinski will be paid a $775K salary for the 2018 season, which comes in a bit north of the $700K at which he was projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. Smolinski is a client of Sosnick, Cobbe, and Karon.
The 28-year-old Smolinski has spent parts of the past three seasons in Oakland, hitting a combined .236/.297/.371 with a dozen homers in 466 trips to the plate. While he’s struggled immensely against right-handed pitchers over parts of four big league seasons, he’s tattooed lefties at a .299/.371/.507 clip and belted 11 of his 16 career homers against southpaws. Smolinski gives Oakland a right-handed-hitting platoon partner for Matt Joyce in an outfield corner spot as well as an option in center field from time to time, though his usage in 2018 will be somewhat dependent on the remainder of the moves that Oakland makes to address its outfield needs between now and Opening Day.
Mark Appel, Alberto Tirado Clear Waivers
The Phillies announced that right-handers Mark Appel and Alberto Tirado have been outrighted to Triple-A Lehigh Valley after clearing waivers. The pair was designated for assignment last week as Philadelphia set its roster in advance of the Rule 5 Draft.
Now 26 years of age, Appel was the top overall pick in the 2013 draft by Houston, who surprised some a year prior by passing over Appel and taking Carlos Correa with the first overall pick in 2012. (Appel did not sign in 2012 after being selected eighth overall and returned to the ’13 draft).
Appel went from Houston to Philadelphia in the Ken Giles trade and has struggled with the Phils as much or more than he did with the Astros. In 188 2/3 career innings of Triple-A work, Appel has pitched to a 4.82 ERA with 7.4 K/9 against 4.8 BB/9, battling shoulder and elbow troubles along the way.
As for Tirado, the 22-year-old ranked as high as eighth in the Blue Jays’ system during his prospect tenure, per Baseball America. The Phillies picked him up in the 2015 trade that sent Ben Revere to Toronto, but he’s largely stalled out at the Class-A Advanced level. Tirado was showing promise at that level, albeit with extreme control issues, in 2015 when the Jays traded him. He’s repeated the level twice now without significantly better results, however. While he did make his Double-A debut this past season, the bulk of Tirado’s year was spent at Class-A Advanced, where he logged a 3.69 ERA with 8.2 K/9 against 5.4 BB/9 in 63 1/3 innings of relief.
Pirates Claim Sam Moll From Athletics
The Pirates have claimed left-hander Sam Moll off waivers from the Athletics, according to press releases from both teams. Pittsburgh’s 40-man roster is now at 39 players.
Moll, 25, is a former third-round pick of the Rockies that was traded to Oakland this past August for cash considerations. The A’s designated him for assignment last week when clearing space on their 40-man roster to protect several players from the Rule 5 Draft.
The 2017 season saw Moll make his big league debut in Oakland, though the results weren’t especially pretty. In 6 2/3 frames, the Memphis product was tagged for eight runs on 13 hits (including two homers) and three walks with seven strikeouts.
In 54 1/3 innings between the Triple-A affiliates for the Rockies and the A’s, Moll pitched to a more respectable 3.64 ERA with 7.8 K/9 against 3.1 BB/9. He also registered a promising 50.3 percent ground-ball rate in his 47 1/3 innings with Colorado’s Triple-A affiliate, though that fell to 33.3 percent in admittedly tiny seven-inning sample with Oakland’s affiliate. Overall, Moll has a history of missing bats and inducing grounders at decent clips in the minors. He joins Nik Turley as the second southpaw claimed off waivers by the Bucs since the offseason began.
Brewers Sign Michael Brady To Minor League Deal
The Brewers have signed right-handed reliever Michael Brady to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training, according to Adam McCalvy of MLB.com.
The 30-year-old Brady hit the open market earlier this month after declining an outright assignment to Triple-A from the Athletics. Last year was Brady’s only season as a member of the Oakland organization, with which he made his major league debut and tossed 31 2/3 relief innings of 5.68 ERA ball, with 6.82 K/9, 1.71 BB/9 and a 33.7 percent groundball rate. He was much more successful as a swingman with the A’s top minors affiliate, logging a 3.21 ERA, 8.61 K/9, 1.01 BB/9 and a 39.3 grounder percentage across 53 1/3 frames (17 appearances, eight starts).
Brady entered the pro ranks in 2009 as a 24th-round pick of the Marlins, who drafted him as a shortstop. He transferred to the mound in 2010 and has since pitched to a stingy 3.07 ERA, with 9.1 K/9 and 1.5 BB/9, over 513 2/3 minor league innings with the Marlins, Angels, Nationals and A’s.
Tigers, Blaine Hardy Avoid Arbitration
The Tigers have announced that they’ve agreed to terms on a one-year contract with left-handed reliever Blaine Hardy in order to avoid arbitration. Hardy will earn around $750K in the deal, according to Tony Paul of the Detroit News (Twitter link), which is slightly below the $800K that MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected Hardy would earn in the southpaw’s first year of arbitration eligibility.
Hardy has split time between Detroit and Triple-A Toledo during the past two seasons, performing just below replacement level in 2017. His best season in the majors came back in 2015, when he spent the entire year in the big leagues and posted a 3.08 ERA and 2.89 FIP across 70 appearances. The southpaw throws his 90 MPH fastball and his changeup most of the time, occasionally mixing in a curveball and a slider. Although his 5.94 ERA in 2017 isn’t exciting, he’s shown better results in previous years and is used against both left-handed and right-handed hitters.
The team also officially announced the signings of four players to minor-league deals, all with invites to spring training. Those players are right-handers Kevin Comer and Mark Montgomery, infielder Niko Goodrum and outfielder Chad Huffman.
Comer, 25, has spent most of his career in the Astros organization, reaching the Triple-A level for the first time in 2017. The righty reliever has shown a propensity for notching K’s; he struck out 10.46 batters per nine innings for the Fresno Grizzlies this past season. He had trouble limiting walks (3.96 BB/9), but his strikeout upside could help him force his way into a desperate Tigers bullpen; Detroit’s relievers were the only relief group in the majors to post a combine for below-replacement level production in 2017.
Montgomery has also never played in the big leagues, but showed great command at the Triple-A level within the Cardinals organization this past year. The former 11th round pick of the Yankees notched nearly five strikeouts for every walk he issued, while posting a 2.43 ERA across 66 2/3 innings. Interestingly, he only made 46 appearances, implying that he was being utilized as a multi-inning reliever a good portion of the time.
The 25-year-old Goodrum has never known any organization other than the Twins, who drafted him in the second round back in 2010. The 6’3″ switch-hitter made his major league debut in September, compiling 18 plate appearances and striking out in ten of them. He did manage to hit 13 homers and steal 11 bases at Triple-A Rochester, however, and is seemingly capable of providing good defense at second base.
Though Huffman debuted in the major leagues in 2010, he only played in 9 games with the Yankees and didn’t make it back to the MLB level until this past season. The righty-hitting outfielder accrued 15 plate appearances with the Cardinals in September, and reached base in five of them. Huffman will return to a Tigers organization for whose Triple-A affiliate he posted a .286/.387/.505 batting line in 511 plate appearances back in 2016.
Minor MLB Transactions: 11/24/17
Here are the day’s minor moves:
- The Marlins have added outfielder J.B. Shuck on a minors pact, per MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro. He’s among the incoming players who will compete for jobs in camp with an organization that is expected to make some big changes to its MLB roster. Shuck, 30, owns a lifetime .251/.299/.328 batting line through 1,090 career plate appearances at the game’s highest level. He failed to crack the bigs last year, though, spending the season instead at the Twins’ top affiliate. Shuck carried typically impressive plate discipline numbers (41 walks against 43 strikeouts) but hit just .259/.325/.368 with four home runs through 475 plate appearances.
Michael Choice, Jake Brigham Re-Sign With KBO’s Nexen Heroes
Two former big leaguers are extending their stay in the Korea Baseball Organization, as Jee-ho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency writes that outfielder Michael Choice and righty Jake Brigham have re-signed with the Nexen Heroes on a pair of one-year deals. Choice will earn a guaranteed $600K in his second season with the Heroes, while Brigham will earn $650K.
The 28-year-old Choice was the 10th overall pick in the 2010 draft and long ranked as one of the game’s top overall prospects, but never delivered on that billing in the Majors. In parts of three big league seasons with the A’s (who drafted him) and Rangers, he hit .188/.253/.320 in 300 plate appearances.
Choice opened the 2017 season with the Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate and spent time with the Brewers’ Double-A club before joining the Heroes midseason. In 201 plate appearances after moving to the KBO, Choice raked at a .307/.390/.653 clip with 17 homers and eight doubles.
Brigham, 30 in February, pitched with the Braves in 2015 but was roughed up in the only 16 2/3 innings of his MLB career. After that 2015 season, he spent some time with the Rakuten Golden Eagles of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball in 2016 before signing with the Heroes in 2017. His first KBO campaign resulted in 4.38 ERA with 6.1 K/9 against 1.6 BB/9 in 144 innings (24 starts).
Orioles To Acquire Konner Wade From Rockies For International Bonus Money
Nov. 24: The Rockies are receiving $500K worth of international bonus money from the Orioles in the trade, tweets Rich Dubroff of PressboxOnline.com.
As Matt Eddy of Baseball America points out, the O’s have now made eight trades sending away their international bonus pool funds since the signing period opened on July 2. The other 29 teams in the league have combined to make 13 trades involving international money in that time.
Nov. 21: The Orioles have added an arm in a swap with the Rockies, picking up righty Konner Wade in exchange for an unknown amount of international bonus pool money. Roch Kubatako of MASNSports.com first reported the prospective swap, with Jon Heyman of Fan Rag tweeting that it has in fact gone though.
Wade, who’ll soon turn 26, repeated Double-A last year and showed strides against his 2016 performance. Over 109 1/3 innings, split nearly evenly between starting and relieving, Wade pitched to a 4.28 ERA with 6.5 K/9 and 1.7 BB/9.
It seems reasonable to expect that the O’s might ultimately consider Wade as a swingman option, though there’s also not much cause to believe he’ll factor in the team’s plans to open the 2018 season. Wade is eligible for the Rule 5 draft, and can no longer be protected, but that fact doesn’t seem to have dissuaded the Orioles from pursuing him — suggesting that the O’s don’t expect he’ll be taken.