Blue Jays Outright Bo Schultz, Cesar Valdez, Darrell Ceciliani
The Blue Jays have announced some roster trimming moves. Right-handers Bo Schultz and Cesar Valdez were outrighted along with outfielder Darrell Ceciliani.
Schultz, 32, underwent Tommy John surgery late in camp, so he’s unlikely to be ready to participate fully in Spring Training. That said, he ought to have a chance of pitching for much of the 2018 season. Schultz, who owns a 4.54 ERA over 67 1/3 career MLB frames could either sign early or wait and put on a showcase once he’s ready.
Valdez, who’s also 32, has sparse MLB experience but has functioned as a depth swingman option. He has pitched well at Triple-A over the past two seasons since returning from a few years in the Mexican League.
As for Ceciliani, the 27-year-old has spent the past two seasons in the Toronto organization but hasn’t earned much time in the majors. A shoulder injury kept him out for much of the 2017 season, and Ceciliani struggled badly (.156/.198/.169) in the 81 plate appearances he was able to take at Triple-A.
Brewers Outright Carlos Torres, Quintin Berry
The Brewers have announced the removal of two players from the team’s 40-man roster. Right-hander Carlos Torres and outfielder Quintin Berry have each been outrighted to Triple-A.
With the move, Milwaukee is effectively sending both into free agency. Torres has the right to refuse the assignment by virtue of his MLB service time. Berry does not, but will nevertheless qualify for minor-league free agency.
Torres, who recently turned 35, contributed 72 2/3 innings of 4.21 ERA ball in 2017. Despite the generally decent results, his strikeout and walk rates worsened from a productive 2016, in which Torres had provided Milwaukee with a 2.73 earned run average over 82 1/3 frames.
There’s some reason to believe that Torres can continue to succeed even at his relatively advanced age. Notably, he averaged a career-best 93.4 mph with his two-seamer. But the Brewers obviously did not feel it was worth staking a projected $3.3MM to retain Torres via arbitration, so he’ll seek another opportunity via free agency.
As for Berry, who’ll soon turn 33, he only briefly cracked the majors. Indeed, he has seen scant MLB action since a 94-game run with the Tigers back in 2012. The fleet-footed Berry will likely end up finding a minors deal to serve as Triple-A depth and provide a possible defense and baserunning option down the stretch.
Mariners Outright Casey Lawrence
The Mariners announced that right-hander Casey Lawrence has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Tacoma, thus reducing the team’s 40-man roster to a count of 39. The veteran of eight minor league seasons can reject in favor of free agency.
Lawrence, 30, joined the Blue Jays organization in 2010 after going undrafted and ultimately worked his way to the Major Leagues for the first time in 2017. Toronto brought Lawrence to the Majors in early April but designated him for assignment a month later, leading to a waiver claim by the Mariners. Lawrence was up and down in Seattle for much of the season, totaling 42 innings out of the Seattle bullpen and working to a combined 55 1/3 big league innings between the two organizations. Lawrence struggled to a 6.34 ERA overall thanks to his susceptibility to home runs, though he averaged a more encouraging 9.6 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 with the Mariners.
In parts of four seasons in Triple-A, working primarily as a starter, Lawrence has logged a 3.99 ERA with 6.3 K/9 against 2.0 BB/9.
Diamondbacks Outright Kristopher Negron
The D-backs announced on Tuesday that infielder/outfielder Kristopher Negron has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Reno. Negron, who will turn 32 in February, will have the option of rejecting that assignment in favor of free agency. The move drops Arizona’s 40-man roster count to 39.
Arizona was the fourth organization of which Negron has been a part in a 12-year professional career that dates back to the 2006 draft, when he was selected by the Red Sox in the seventh round. He’s seen MLB action in parts of four seasons, mostly with the Reds, hitting a combined .214/.296/.338 with six homers and seven steals in 301 plate appearances as a big leaguer. He saw just 31 PAs with the D-backs in 2017 and went 4-for-25 with four walks and a double.
Though Negron hasn’t contributed much at the plate in the Majors, he enjoyed a career year in Triple-A this past season, slashing .300/.366/.501 with 13 homers and 13 steals in 120 games. He also appeared at every position on the diamond with the exception of catcher — including an inning on the mound. He’s primarily been a shortstop throughout his career (4815 inning) but has also seen significant time at second base (2750 innings), third base (1340 innings) and in center field (843 innings). Even if he doesn’t return to the D-backs organization, he will in all likelihood ink a minor league pact and vie for a backup role in camp with another club next spring.
Minor MLB Transactions: 10/31/17
Here are the day’s minor moves:
- Righty Tim Dillard will be back where he belongs in 2018, as he’ll remain in the Brewers organization after agreeing to a minor-league pact. The 34-year-old, who was a contributor to MLBTR during the 2017 campaign, tweets that he has agreed to return for his 16th campaign with the club. Dillard has not pitched at the major league level since 2012, but has carved out a niche at Triple-A. Those unfamiliar with Dillard will want to follow the above links to learn more about one of the game’s most uniquely situated players.
- Veteran middle infielder Ramon Santiago is officially retiring, as Danny Knobler reports. Now 38 years of age, the 13-year MLB veteran last suited up at the game’s highest level back in 2014 and had not played affiliated ball in the last two season. Santiago appeared in 920 total MLB contests — most of them with the Tigers — and posted a cumulative .243/.314/.330 batting line. There’s more information on Santiago’s career available at the above link. He’s presently focused on being with his family, it seems, but also hopes to get back in the game as a coach at some point.
Jarred Cosart, Christian Friedrich Elect Free Agency After Clearing Outright Waivers
Two Padres hurlers, Jarred Cosart and Christian Friedrich, have elected free agency after being outrighted off of the team’s 40-man roster. The club announced the moves today.
Cosart, 27, was projected to earn $1.3MM via arbitration. The Friars obviously weren’t willing to stake that much on a rebound for a pitcher that has dealt with arm problems. Cosart will spend the winter working back from elbow surgery, the details and outlook of which are not really clear.
Since landing in San Diego — as a buy-low candidate included in everyone’s favorite quirky 2016 deadline deal — Cosart has posted a 5.58 ERA through 61 1/3 innings. With as many strikeouts as walks (42 apiece) on his ledger, there were clearly concerns about performance even when he was healthy.
Meanwhile, Friedrich was slated to take home something in the ballpark of his projected $1.79MM arbitration value. The 30-year-old lefty did not appear in 2017 while dealing with elbow problems of his own. In total, he owns 5.37 ERA across 296 2/3 MLB innings.
Mets Release Nori Aoki
The Mets have released veteran outfielder Nori Aoki, per a club announcement. He had been eligible for arbitration, but will instead return to the open market in search of his next destination.
Aoki, 35, caught on with the Mets after opening the 2017 season with the Astros and joining the Blue Jays via trade. In total, he compiled 258 plate appearances of .277/.335/.393 hitting on the season. That rates right near the league average in total output, which is more or less where Aoki has landed in all of his six MLB campaigns.
The move isn’t at all surprising given Aoki’s projected arbitration salary, which sat at a fairly hefty $6.3MM. Still, he’ll surely draw interest in free agency. For all he lacks in upside, Aoki has been stunningly consistent since coming over from Japan. Despite little power, Aoki is nearly impossible to strike out. And while his output against lefties dipped this year in a small sample, he has generally shown little in the way of a platoon split.
Giants Claim Micah Johnson, Designate Tim Federowicz
4:18pm: San Francisco has designated catcher Tim Federowicz to open a 40-man spot, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets.
Federowicz, 30, was projected to command $1.3MM as a 3+ service-class player in arbitration. In theory, he could have been retained to serve as Buster Posey’s backup, with Nick Hundley qualifying for free agency, but clearly the Giants have other plans.
Though he has seen time in six MLB seasons, Federowicz has only once taken more than a hundred plate appearances in a single campaign — his 2013 effort with the Dodgers. All told, he owns a .196/.245/.313 slash through 318 trips to the plate at the game’s highest level.
At Triple-A last year, he hit a sturdy .300/.366/.463. Indeed, Federowicz owns a career .877 OPS through parts of seven seasons at the highest level of the minors. Still, he has yet to receive an extended look in the bigs.
3:45pm: The Giants have claimed utilityman Micah Johnson off waivers from the Reds, as Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area tweets. He had only recently landed in Cincinnati in a waiver claim from the Braves.
Johnson, 26, has bounced around a fair bit in recent years, moving from the White Sox to the Dodgers and then on to Atlanta before starting the present offseason with a flurry. Along the way, his prospect star has generally waned, though perhaps it’s too soon to give up on a player that comes with some pedigree as a well-regarded prospect.
Last year, Johnson did manage to produce a useful .289/.377/.400 batting line over 155 plate appearances at Triple-A. That represented an improvement on his ugly output at the highest level of the minors in the prior campaign. Johnson earned a brief stop in the majors for the third-straight season, but still has fairly minimal time there.
Clearly, the speedy Indiana University product is still seen by teams as worthy of some ongoing opportunity. The Reds evidently hoped to slip him through waivers, only to see another team with a high-priority spot on the NL waiver wire grab him instead. It wouldn’t be all that surprising to see Johnson bounce around a few more times this winter as teams jockey for position with 40-man roster spots.
Minor MLB Transactions: 10/28/17
The latest minor moves from around the game:
- The Nexen Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization have signed former major league right-hander Esmil Rogers to a one-year, $1.5MM contract, according to Yonhap. Next season will be the third in Korea for Rogers, who pitched for the Hanwha Eagles from 2015-16. The 32-year-old spent 2017 with the Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse and posted excellent numbers (3.18 ERA, 9.3 K/9 against 1.4 BB/9 and a 46 percent groundball rate) across 39 2/3 innings. A former Rockie, Blue Jay, Indian and Yankee, Rogers saw action in the majors from 2009-15 and pitched to a 5.59 ERA, with 7.65 K/9, 3.57 BB/9 and a 45.9 percent grounder rate, over 454 frames (210 appearances, 43 starts). In his most successful season, 2013, Rogers totaled a career-high 137 2/3 innings of 4.77 ERA ball with the Jays.
- SK Wyverns of the KBO have re-signed corner outfielder/infielder Jamie Romak and righty Merrill Kelly, per Yonhap. Contract details are unavailable for Romak, but Kelly’s pact is a one-year accord worth $1.4MM. Romak joined SK when the Padres sold his rights to the club in May, and the 32-year-old went on to slash .242/.344/.554 with 31 home runs in 416 plate appearances. A fourth-round pick of the Braves in 2003, Romak racked up a combined 39 PAs with the Dodgers and Diamondbacks from 2014-15. Kelly, meanwhile, has never played in the majors. Now 29, Kelly joined the Rays in 2010 as an eighth-rounder and lasted with the organization through the 2014 campaign, after which he hooked on with SK. During his three seasons with SK, Kelly has recorded a 3.80 ERA, 7.6 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 over 571 1/3 innings in the hitter-friendly league.
Mariners Claim David Freitas From Braves
The Mariners have claimed catcher David Freitas off waivers from the Braves, as per a team press release. Right-hander Rob Whalen has also been reinstated to Seattle’s 40-man roster, thus filling every available spot on the 40-man.
Freitas was originally a 15th-round pick for the Nationals in the 2010 draft, and he has since been part of two notable trades (from Washington to Oakland for Kurt Suzuki in August 2012 and then from the A’s to the Orioles as a PTBNL in the Jim Johnson deal in December 2013) and also been selected by the Cubs in the Rule 5 draft. No matter the organization, Freitas has hit well in his pro career, with a .272/.358/.414 slash line over 2665 career minor league plate appearances. Freitas made his big league debut this past season, appearing in six games for Atlanta.
With Carlos Ruiz hitting free agency, the Mariners could see Freitas as a candidate for the backup catcher’s job; Mike Marjama is currently the top choice on the depth chart behind starter Mike Zunino. At the very least, Freitas gives the M’s additional catching and first base depth in the minors.
Whalen also came to Seattle from Atlanta, coming to the Mariners along with Max Povse in exchange for Alex Jackson and Tyler Pike last December. Whalen appeared in just two games at the MLB level for Seattle in a season marked by several shuttles to and from Triple-A Tacoma, where he made just 10 starts. His year began with a month-long DL stint due to a sore shoulder and Whalen didn’t appear in another game after being placed on the team’s restricted list in early July due to undisclosed personal issues. In addition to 32 big league innings with the Mariners and Braves, Whalen has a 2.99 ERA, 7.9 K/9 and 2.59 K/BB rate over 413 career innings in the minors.