Reds Outright D.J. Peterson
The Reds have outrighted corner infielder D.J. Peterson after he cleared waivers, per a club announcement. Cincinnati had just claimed the former top prospect off waivers from the White Sox.
Clearly, the series of moves was designed to add Peterson without tying up a 40-man spot, which seems to have been successful. He will be Rule 5 eligible if another organization wants to take a look during camp, but Peterson will not be able to elect minor-league free agency at the end of the current season.
Chosen 12th overall in the 2013 draft, Peterson once rated as one of the game’s hundred or so best prospects. His stock has slipped, though, as it became evident he likely wouldn’t stick at third base and as his bat has failed to develop.
The Mariners ultimately gave up on Peterson after he slashed .264/.323/.414 at Triple-A to open the season. He hit even less upon landing with the White Sox, but became the latest stalled power hitter to land with the Reds organization on Sunday. It seems reasonable to expect that Peterson will at least have some shot at impressing his new employer in camp, assuming he’s still with the club come mid-February.
Minor MLB Transactions: 9/18/17
Here are today’s minor moves from around the league…
- The Reds have announced that RHP Barrett Astin cleared waivers and has been assigned to Triple-A Louisville. Astin, 25, was selected 90th overall by the Brewers in the 2013 draft, and traded to the Reds along with righty Kevin Shackelford for reliever Jonathan Broxton in August of the following year. During April and May, Astin bounced between Louisville and the majors, but struggled with command, walking seven batters and striking out just two across eight innings while allowing six earned runs. He’s a sinkerballer, throwing that pitch over half the time at about 92 MPH, but the changeup he features is just 6 MPH slower. He also throws a slider that clocks in around 88 MPH.
- Right-hander Brooks Pounders, who was designated for assignment by the Angels earlier this month, cleared waivers and was outrighted off the 40-man roster, per the team’s transactions page at MLB.com. Pounders, 26, appeared in 11 games for the Halos this season and 13 for the Royals in 2016, but he’s struggled considerably at the big league level. In 23 career innings, he’s pitched to a 9.78 ERA thanks largely to a whopping 10 homers allowed. Pounders does have a solid 25-to-8 K/BB ratio in that time, and he owns a career 2.94 ERA with 9.5 K/9 against 3.6 BB/9 in 131 2/3 Triple-A innings.
Padres Designate Dusty Coleman, Jose Valdez
The Padres have designated infielder Dusty Coleman and right-handed reliever Jose Valdez for assignment, according to an official announcement from the organization. The contracts of catcher Rocky Gale and infielder Christian Villanueva have been selected in a related move. The Padres have also recalled RHP Tim Melville, along with outfielders Travis Jankowski, Hunter Renfroe.
Valdez has thrown a combined 50 1/3 innings for the Tigers, Angels and Padres over the past three seasons, pitching to a 5.72 ERA. While that number may seem high, his 6.66 career FIP shows that he’s actually pitched even worse than that number indicates. He throws hard, averaging 96 MPH on his fastball and 86 MPH on his slider, but he gets hit hard as well; opponents have managed hard-hit balls against him in over 40% of their at-bats. That, combined with his 36% career ground ball rate and the fact that opposing hitters are able to pull the ball against him 41% of the time, has likely been the cause of a 4.00 HR/9 that’s done Valdez in. The 27 year-old right hander was originally signed as an international free agent by the Tigers in 2009.
Coleman, 30, was selected by the Athletics in the 28th round of the 2008 draft (844 overall). Though he garnered five official plate appearances with the Royals back in 2015, this season was his first extended stay in the majors. In 71 trips to the plate with the Padres, Coleman showed some power (4 HR, .227 ISO), but a crippling 46.5% strikeout rate held him back, leading him to a paltry .227 average and .268 OBP.
Gale is a light-hitting catcher who has only seen 17 innings behind the plate at the major-league level. He has spent his entire career in the Padres organization after being selected in the 24th round of the 2010 draft (724 overall). The 29 year-old hit .278/.325/.365 at Triple-A El Paso this season.
Villanueva was part of the 2012 trade between the Cubs and Rangers; he was sent from Texas along with Kyle Hendricks in exchange for Ryan Dempster. He missed the entire 2016 season after suffering a right fibular fracture during spring training, and was subsequently non-tendered that offseason. Since signing a minor-league deal with the Padres in the offseason, he has impressed with a .269/.369/.528 batting line at Triple-A. The 26 year-old third baseman will be getting his first taste of major-league action; he has spent eight years in the minor leagues after being signed as an international free agent by the Rangers in 2009.
Renfroe, a former top prospect, made his major-league debut last season. He burst onto the scene by clubbing four homers and two doubles in just 11 games, but struggled mightily with plate discipline this season (125 K’s against just 26 walks) before being demoted to Triple-A. After hitting over .500 over 61 PA in El Paso with almost as many walks as strikeouts, the Padres will hope he can sustain those skills with the MLB club.
Jankowski played 131 games with the Padres last season, but suffered a foot injury in April that has caused him to miss most of 2017. He’s known far more for his speed and defense in center field than he is for his bat. Both UZR and DRS have rated him well above average for in 148 career games in the majors, but he’s slugged just .305 across that time. Jankowski has been out since April with a foot injury.
Melville was claimed off waivers from the Twins back on August 26th. He’s spent time in the minors with five different organizations and has made three major league starts in his career, none of which lasted more than four innings. He does, however carry some pedigree. Though he fell to the fourth round in the 2008 draft, the Royals spent $1.25MM to sign him; well above slot. Melville has a big frame, standing at 6’5″ and weighing 210 pounds, so perhaps he can still reach the potential that Baseball Prospectus saw in him when he ranked #93 on their top prospects list back in 2012.
Reds Claim D.J. Peterson From White Sox
The Reds have claimed infielder D.J. Peterson off waivers from the White Sox. Cincinnati transferred reliever Drew Storen to the 60-day disabled list in a corresponding move. The White Sox also outrighted catcher Alfredo Gonzalez to Double-A Birmingham, reducing their 40-man total to 38, Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune tweets.
This is the second time this year a club has claimed Peterson. He previously went to the White Sox on Aug. 6 after the Mariners designated him for assignment at the end of July. For Seattle, moving on from the 25-year-old meant cutting ties with a 2013 first-round pick and a player who was once a highly regarded prospect. Peterson struggled this season with the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate and did the same in his 97-plate appearance stint with the White Sox’s top farm team, giving him a .252/.315/.404 batting line in 518 PAs. The righty-swinger still hasn’t ascended to the majors, and he won’t report to the big league club upon his arrival to the Reds, according to C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer (on Twitter).
The 25-year-old Gonzalez also hasn’t gotten past the minors since signing with the Astros as an international free agent in 2008. This year, his first in the Chicago organization, the Venezuelan hit .208/.306/.301 in 249 trips to the plate with Birmingham.
Orioles Outright Richard Rodriguez, Select Tanner Scott
1:13pm: Rodriguez has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Norfolk, per an announcement from Baltimore.
10:22am: The Orioles announced that they’ve designated right-hander Richard Rodriguez for assignment. The team selected left-hander Tanner Scott from Double-A Bowie in a corresponding move.
The 27-year-old Rodriguez, who’s in his third season with the Baltimore organization, got his first taste of major league action in 2017. It didn’t go well, as Rodriguez allowed nine earned runs on 12 hits and three walks, with three strikeouts, over 5 2/3 innings. He was far better across 70 2/3 frames this year at Triple-A Norfolk, where he pitched to a sparkling 2.42 ERA and logged 10.19 K/9 against 2.29 BB/9. Rodriguez was similarly effective at the Triple-A level in each of the previous two seasons.
A sixth-round pick in 2014, the hard-throwing Scott has developed into one of the Orioles’ top prospects. MLB.com ranks the 23-year-old sixth among Baltimore’s farmhands and suggests that he has the potential to become an excellent major league reliever. Scott worked out of the rotation with Bowie this season, but with just 69 innings in 24 starts, he averaged fewer than three frames per appearance. Along the way, Scott overcame a bloated walk rate (6.00 BB/9) with an 11.17 K/9, to go with a 52.1 percent groundball rate, en route to a 2.22 ERA.
Pirates Outright Drew Hutchison
The Pirates have outrighted right-hander Drew Hutchison from the 40-man roster, as John Dreker of Pirates Prospects first reported. Hutchison has already cleared waivers.
Hutchison earned $2.3MM this year and would be eligible for arbitration for two more campaigns. But he never made it up to the majors in 2017 and clearly was destined for a non-tender. Hutchison is now slated to qualify as a minor-league free agent at the end of the year, as Dreker notes.
Though it was largely inevitable — in substance, if not in timing or process — the move isn’t likely to be terribly well-received by Pirates fans. Many of the Pittsburgh faithful have already been incensed by the team’s decision to allow reliever Juan Nicasio to depart via outright waivers, a move that ultimately saw him end up closing games for the division-rival Cardinals as they seek to make a postseason run.
Hutchison has been a target of some ire ever since he was acquired in a controversial deal at last year’s trade deadline. That late-breaking swap sent two prospects — Harold Ramirez and Reese McGuire — to the Blue Jays along with the expensive contract of Francisco Liriano. While the Bucs insisted they had real interest in adding Hutchison, there was clearly a financial motivation at play as well.
It doesn’t help, of course, that Hutchison has not contributed since arriving in Pittsburgh. Once a highly regarded young starter, he faltered in Toronto evidently hasn’t shown enough since finding his way to an organization oft lauded for its pitching turnarounds. Hutchison appeared briefly in the majors last year but hasn’t appeared for the Pirates in 2017, despite occupying a 40-man spot and earning his arb salary all year long. He does own a 3.56 ERA with 7.0 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 through 159 1/3 Triple-A frames, but clearly the Bucs were not confident that he’d carry that into the majors.
Tigers Acquire Elvin Rodriguez From Angels To Complete Justin Upton Trade
The Angels have announced that they have sent righty Elvin Rodriguez to the Tigers. He’ll become the player to be named later in the deal that sent outfielder Justin Upton to Los Angeles two weeks ago.
Rodriguez, 19, joins fellow minor-league righty Grayson Long in making up the return for Upton, who was something of an odd trade candidate given that he can opt out of his contract at the end of the season. Detroit did have some leverage, as the team could have held onto him and then traded the remainder of his deal if he did not exercise that clause and return to the open market. The Tigers also had reason to want a deal, though, since Upton was not eligible for a qualifying offer (having previously received one) if he opted out.
Rodriguez has shown some promise in the Halos system and ranked 22nd among the club’s farmhands on MLB.com’s latest list. Though he doesn’t even sit above 90 mph, per MLB.com, he generates movement, possesses intriguing secondary offerings, and has a track record of success in the low minors. Refinement and perhaps also some physical development may yet come. Rodriguez posted a 2.91 ERA with 8.1 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 in his 68 innings this year, most of which came at the Rookie ball level before he earned a promotion to Class A.
Brewers Designate Yadiel Rivera For Assignment
The Brewers announced Friday that they’ve designated infielder Yadiel Rivera for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for right-hander Aaron Wilkerson, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Colorado Springs. Wilkerson was acquired from the Red Sox in the 2016 trade that sent Aaron Hill to Boston.
Rivera, 25, has appeared in just one game for Milwaukee this season thanks in part to improved infield depth that has helped the team contend in 2017. While Rivera saw action in 35 games last year and tallied 71 plate appearances with a .212/.235/.273 slash, the Brewers have instead relied upon other options in utility infield capacities. In addition to the acquisition of Travis Shaw and the emergence of Orlando Arcia, veteran Eric Sogard has provided significant value in a utility role. Last year’s primary shortstop, Jonathan Villar, has also been on hand all season and bounced around the diamond, as has fellow utilityman Hernan Perez.
Beyond the new-look infield mix in Milwaukee, Rivera simply hasn’t performed in the minors this season. Despite playing in a very hitter-friendly Colorado Springs/Pacific Coast League environment, he’s posted a meek .218/.282/.314 batting line through 414 plate appearances in Triple-A this year. Those struggles aren’t exactly new for Rivera, who has enjoyed some success in Double-A but has yet to thrive at the top minor league level.
Wilkerson doesn’t rank among the Brewers’ top 30 prospects — not surprising for a player that is 28 years old — but has enjoyed a terrific season with Milwaukee’s Double-A club. Through 142 1/3 innings, the former unsigned draft pick and indy ball discovery has pitched to a 3.16 ERA with 9.0 K/9, 2.3 BB/9 and a 36.2 percent ground-ball rate. Wilkerson’s first appearance with the Brewers will be his Major League debut — no small feat for a player that spent two seasons on the independent circuit before even getting a look in Lo-A ball with the Red Sox at the age of 25.
Minor MLB Transactions: 9/14/17
Here are the day’s minor moves from around the league…
- Left-hander Onelki Garcia has cleared waivers after being designated for assignment and been sent outright to the Royals‘ Triple-A affiliate, tweets MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan. Garcia, 28, made a pair of appearances — one start, one relief outing — with the Royals in what was his first Major League action since 2013, though the results weren’t pretty. In six innings, the southpaw yielded nine earned runs (13.50 ERA) on the strength of a dozen hits and five walks with two strikeouts. Garcia has appeared in just three big league games, though he owns a 4.24 ERA with 9.3 K/9 against 4.3 BB/9 in parts of five minor league seasons.
Giants Claim Engelb Vielma
3:13 pm: Vielma has been claimed by the Giants, Darren Wolfson of KSTP News reports via twitter.
The former Twins infield prospect adds a bit of depth to a Giants team that has been in dire need of a defensively-minded backup infielder lately. Both Kelby Tomlinson and Orlando Calixte have been underwhelming with the glove this season, so if Vielma can develop even a replacement-level offensive skillset, his defensive wizardry could make him a solid utility option for San Francisco.
2:54 pm: Recently-designated Twins infielder Engelb Vielma has been claimed off waivers by an unknown National League club, tweets Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Vielma was designated for assignment by the Twins on Tuesday in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for lefty reliever Gabriel Moya. The switch-hitting shortstop has yet play in the majors. In 314 plate appearances at AAA this year, he put up an unimpressive .206/.233/.260 batting line.
In spite of his poor hitting, it makes sense that an organization would have interest in Vielma. He has been rated as the Twins’ best defensive minor-league infielder for multiple years, and could serve as an excellent defensive replacement or utility option. It’s possible he could still carve out a path to the majors, but he’d need to make major improvements with the bat.
Vielma, a 23-year old native of Venezuela was first added to the Twins’ 40-man roster this past offseason in order to protect him from the rule five draft after he managed to get on base at a .344 clip between High-A and Double-A in 2016.