Mariners Outright Cody Martin
The Mariners announced today that they’ve outrighted Cody Martin off the 40-man roster. The right-hander will return to Triple-A Tacoma, and Seattle’s 40-man roster now has an open spot for a potential addition.
Martin, 28 next month, has appeared in just one game for the Mariners this season, though he also made nine appearances with Seattle in 2016. Through 27 2/3 innings in his career as a Mariner, he’s allowed 14 earned runs (4.55 ERA) with a 15-to-11 K/BB ratio and a 46.2 percent ground-ball rate. Martin has also had brief stints with the A’s and Braves, leading to a collective 6.33 ERA in 58 1/3 MLB frames.
A former seventh-round pick, Martin does have a nice track record in Triple-A, where he’s logged a combined 3.66 ERA, 8.7 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 467 2/3 innings across parts of five seasons. Given that relatively solid output, the Mariners certainly won’t mind keeping him on hand as a depth option, but the vacant 40-man spot will give the team further flexibility to make some additions — either by selecting a contract of a non-40-man player already in the organization or by claiming/trading for yet another new asset. GM Jerry Dipoto is among the game’s most active executives and has already added Yonder Alonso, Ryan Garton, Mike Marjama and Ernesto Frieri this month.
Alternatively, the vacancy could go to a player currently on the 60-day DL, as Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times suggests (Twitter link). Right-hander Shae Simmons is about the only player that’d fit that bill in the immediate future. He’s been on a rehab assignment in Tacoma and made his most recent appearance on Sunday.
Reds Claim Luke Farrell, Designate Scott Van Slyke
The Reds announced on Wednesday that they’ve claimed right-hander Luke Farrell off waivers from the Dodgers and designated former Dodger Scott Van Slyke for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster. Farrell has been optioned to Triple-A Louisville, per the Reds’ announcement.
The 26-year-old Farrell is the son of Red Sox manager John Farrell and made his MLB debut with the Royals earlier this year. He was knocked around for five runs on seven hits and three walks with two strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings, and that outing still represents his long MLB appearance.
Though his debut was rough, Farrell has produced solid Triple-A results in 2016-17, working to a combined 3.83 ERA with 8.5 K/9, 3.5 BB/9 and roughly a 36 percent ground-ball rate in 199 2/3 innings. He has a pair of minor league options remaining beyond this season, which also figures to have some appeal to the Reds.
Van Slyke was acquired alongside catching prospect Hendrik Clementina minutes before the non-waiver trade deadline in the trade that sent Tony Cingrani to the Dodgers. While some may wonder why the Reds didn’t simply acquire Farrell in place of Van Slyke in that trade, it’s likely due to the fact that the Reds took on the remainder of Van Slyke’s salary, thus offsetting some of the financial cost of Cingrani for Los Angeles.
The 31-year-old Van Slyke is earning $1.325MM and has appeared in just 29 games this season (all with the Dodgers), hitting .122/.250/.293 in 48 plate appearances. Van Slyke, of course, has had his share of success in the Majors but hasn’t been especially productive since 2014. He’s also carrying a disappointing .714 OPS in Triple-A this season.
Minor MLB Transactions: 8/8/17
Here are Tuesday’s minor moves from around the game…
- The Athletics announced that catcher Ryan Lavarnway has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Nashville after being designated for assignment. The 30-year-old veteran has showed nicely in a tiny sample of 13 PAs with Oakland this season and has also posted a solid .262/.346/.385 slash through 255 PAs with the team’s Triple-A affiliate in Nashville. He’s been outrighted on multiple occasions in the past, giving him the option to reject the assignment in favor of free agency if he chooses. Lavarnway, though, has already accepted one outright from the A’s earlier this season.
- Right-hander Ricardo Rodriguez‘s contract has been formally selected by the Rangers, per a team announcement. He’ll fill the 25-man roster spot of Keone Kela, who hit the DL today due to shoulder soreness. Soon to turn 25, Rodriguez will be making his MLB debut when he first takes the mound for the Rangers, who signed him as an international free agent out of Venezuela back in 2010. Rodriguez missed the 2016 season after Tommy John surgery but has returned strong in 2017. As Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper wrote back in late June, Rodriguez blitzed through a span of 15 perfect innings out of the bullpen earlier this year, prompting Texas to move him from Class-A Advanced to Double-A. Through 47 innings this year, Rodriguez has a ridiculous 1.34 ERA with 11.7 K/9 against 1.9 BB/9 (albeit against much younger competition least back in Class-A).
- Veteran right-hander Javy Guerra is back in the Majors, as the Marlins announced that they’ve selected his contract to fill the spot of lefty Chris O’Grady, who is going on the DL due to a strained oblique. Guerra hasn’t been especially impressive in Triple-A this year (4.99 ERA, 7.6 K/9, 3.7 BB/9 in 48 2/3 innings), but he’ll provide some depth for a Miami pitching staff that has been depleted by trades (David Phelps, AJ Ramos) and injuries.
Padres, Jordan Lyles Agree To Minors Deal
The Padres have agreed to a minor league pact with right-hander Jordan Lyles, per Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune. The 26-year-old righty was designated for assignment by the division-rival Rockies prior to the non-waiver deadline and was released last week. Lyles has been assigned to Triple-A El Paso, according to Sanders.
Lyles was the No. 38 overall pick in the 2008 draft by the Astros but found himself traded to the Rockies prior to the 2014 season as part of a package that netted the Astros outfielder Dexter Fowler. The Rox had hoped that Lyles, then one of the game’s top-regarded pitching prospects, could help to solidify the rotation for years to come.
He made good on that promise in 2014, tossing 126 2/3 innings with a 4.33 ERA, but Lyles was unable to replicate those results over the next three seasons in Colorado, struggling with injuries along the way. A broken left hand significantly shortened that 2014 campaign for Lyles, and a ligament injury in his left foot would cap his 2015 season at just 49 innings.
Lyles was healthy in both 2016 and 2017, but his results didn’t improve following a shift from the rotation to the ‘pen. All told, the final three seasons of his Rockies tenure resulted in a 5.95 ERA with 5.5 K/9, 3.4 BB/9 and a 51 percent ground-ball rate in 154 1/3 innings. Metrics like SIERA, FIP and xFIP were a bit more optimistic, pegging him at remarkably similar (and sequential) marks of 4.69, 4.70 and 4.71, respectively.
The Padres will take a look at Lyles for the remainder of the season, and he could conceivably help the big league club as a long man or in the rotation eventually, depending on whether the Friars ultimately trade starters Clayton Richard and/or Jhoulys Chacin. At present, both of those veterans are in the rotation alongside Travis Wood, Luis Perdomo and rookie Dinelson Lamet, but both Richard and Chacin are plausible August trade candidates. Lyles could technically be controlled for another season via arbitration, depending on when he is added to the team’s roster, as he currently sits 30 days of MLB service shy of reaching six years of service time.
For now, Lyles will join the rotation for San Diego’s Triple-A affiliate: the El Paso Chihuahuas. He will, in fact, start tonight’s game for El Paso, as noted by Chihuahuas broadcaster Tim Hagerty (on Twitter).
Mariners Acquire Ernesto Frieri
The Rangers announced that they’ve traded right-hander Ernesto Frieri to the Mariners in exchange for cash. Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times first reported the swap and adds that Frieri will help to round out a depleted bullpen in Triple-A Tacoma for the time being (Twitter links). He’s not on the 40-man roster, so no corresponding move is necessary.
Frieri, 32, returned to the Majors in 2017 after sitting out the 2016 campaign entirely (outside of a stint in the Dominican Winter League). The former Angels closer drummed up some interest by pitching for his native Colombia in the 2017 World Baseball Classic. That showing helped Frieri to latch on with the Yankees on a minors pact, and he later signed with the Rangers after opting out of that pact with New York. He pitched seven innings out of the Texas ‘pen, allowing four runs on six hits and six walks with five strikeouts.
While those numbers aren’t pretty, Frieri has a strong 2.63 ERA with 11.2 K/9 against 4.0 BB/9 in 27 1/3 Triple-A frames this year — including 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball with an 8-to-3 K/BB ratio since last being sent to Triple-A by Texas. He’s mostly a depth option for now, it seems, but Frieri does have a solid overall track record in the Majors, even in spite of his lack of recent results.
In 303 1/3 big league innings, he owns a 3.59 ERA with 11.5 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9. Frieri is an extreme fly-ball pitcher (career 26.4 percent ground-ball rate), though if he reaches the Majors, concerns surrounding that trait could be somewhat mitigated by the spacious dimensions of Seattle’s Safeco Field and an excellent Mariners outfield defense.
Outrighted: Ramon Flores, Danny Ortiz
The following players have been outrighted to Triple-A after clearing waivers:
- Angels outfielder Ramon Flores is en route back to Salt Lake, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (via Twitter). He has been outrighted previously, during his time with the Brewers, and thus had the right to choose free agency. But he’s listed on the organization’s Triple-A roster, so it seems he has elected to remain in the organization. He’ll have the right to do so instead at the end of the year. Flores, who’s still just 25, appeared in only three games with the Halos this year and struggled in an extended run last season with Milwaukee. He is hitting a robust .311/405/.417, though, in 373 trips to the plate at Salt Lake this year.
- The Pirates announced that outfielder Danny Ortiz is returning to Indianapolis. He had earned his first MLB call-up after sporting a .259/.291/.450 slash over 342 Triple-A plate appearances to open the year. But Ortiz saw only limited action over nine games in the bigs and lost his roster spot when the Bucs acquired old friend Sean Rodriguez over the weekend.
Angels Designate Shane Robinson, Activate Cameron Maybin
The Angels have designated outfielder Shane Robinson for assignment, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register tweets. He’ll make way for the activation of Cameron Maybin, who is back atop the Halos’ lineup tonight.
Robinson, 32, saw 14 games of action this year for Los Angeles, representing his eighth season in the majors. Overall, he carries a .227/.295/.298 batting line through 789 trips to the plate.
The veteran had spent most of the year at Triple-A, where he posted a productive .338/.397/.436 slash with his typically excellent plate discipline and a dozen steals. Assuming he ultimately clears outright waivers, Robinson could accept an assignment back to Salt Lake or take that record of recent performance onto the open market.
As for Maybin, he ultimately missed 16 games with a knee sprain. The 30-year-old has not continued the offensive output he showed last year with the Tigers, but has swiped 25 bags on the year while posting average or better metrics in center (while filling in for Mike Trout) and left field. Maybin will hit the open market for the first time at the conclusion of the season.
Cardinals Option Stephen Piscotty To Triple-A
The Cardinals announced on Monday that they’ve activated center fielder Dexter Fowler from the disabled list and optioned Stephen Piscotty to Triple-A Memphis to clear a spot on the roster.
[Related: Updated St. Louis Cardinals depth chart]
The move marks the third Opening Day regular to be optioned to the minors this season — both Randal Grichuk and Aledmys Diaz have been sent down in 2017 — and also makes this the second straight season in which St. Louis has optioned a recently extended player to the minors. In 2016, it was second baseman Kolten Wong that was sent down after struggling in the wake of signing a five-year, $25.5MM extension. Piscotty, 26, inked a six-year, $33.5MM pact prior to the 2017 season but has struggled to live up to the expectations that accompanied that deal thus far.
Piscotty batted .282/.348/.467 with 29 homers through his first 216 Major League games (905 plate appearances), prompting the Cards to make that show of faith just as the 2017 campaign got underway. However, he’s yet to find a groove at the plate this year and currently has just a .232/.340/.362 slash through 291 plate appearances. Piscotty has seen his walk rate spike to 12.7 percent this season, but his power has largely evaporated; he’s hit just six homers in 2017 and has an isolated power mark (.130) that is 54 points lower than his 2016 level (.184). He’s also missed time due to a hamstring strain and a groin strain through the season’s first four-plus months.
With Piscotty out of the picture for the time being, the Cards seem set to go with an outfield mix featuring Tommy Pham, Fowler and Grichuk. Jose Martinez, too, should factor prominently into the mix on the heels of his strong play in recent weeks. Some have even argued for Martinez to remain in the lineup on a regular basis, including Bernie Miklasz of ESPN 101, who made a lengthy pitch for the Cardinals to keep Martinez in the heart of the order earlier today.
Minor MLB Transactions: 8/7/17
Here are Monday’s minor moves from around the game…
- The Angels have signed right-hander Branden Pinder, reports Baseball America’s Matt Eddy in his always-informative weekly Minor Transactions roundup (which includes dozens of moves). Pinder is a known commodity to Angels GM Billy Eppler, having spent his career to date in the Yankees organization, where Eppler was previously an assistant GM. Pinder had Tommy John surgery in 2016 but had worked back to throw 11 2/3 innings in the minors thus far in 2017. He showed promise in 27 2/3 frames with the 2015 Yankees (2.93 ERA, 8.1 K/9, 4.6 BB/9) and should have a better chance to work back to the Majors with the Halos than he’d have had in New York.
- In a pair of moves from the Dodgers, left-hander Tommy Layne has been released, while outfielder Peter O’Brien has been outrighted to Triple-A, according to Eddy. Layne spent less than a month in the Dodgers’ system after signing a minors pact in mid-July. He threw 5 2/3 frames with their Triple-A club but walked more batters (six) than he struck out (three). He does have a nice track record in the Majors (3.23 ERA in 136 1/3 innings from 2012-16) but was hit hard with the Yankees in 2017. As for O’Brien, he’s bounced around on the waiver wire this season but finally went unclaimed and will return to the Dodgers’ minor league ranks while no longer occupying a 40-man roster spot. O’Brien’s power generated plenty of intrigue a few years ago, but there have long been questions about his defense and plate discipline. He’s also posted a .666 OPS in the minors this season.
- Right-hander Esmil Rogers has signed on with the Nationals on a minor league pact, according to Eddy. Rogers last pitched in the Majors in 2015 and has since spent the second half of the 2015 season and the entire 2016 campaign pitching in the Korea Baseball Organization. He’s already made a pair of starts for Washington’s Triple-A affiliate and has thrown well. Rogers has 454 big league innings under his belt, but his success has been sporadic. He’ll give the Nats another veteran arm to potentially join the bullpen in September and could potentially act as a spot starter down the stretch if he continues to show well in Syracuse.
Cubs, Mike Freeman Agree To Minor League Deal
The Cubs have agreed to a minor league pact with infielder/outfielder Mike Freeman, according to the team’s transactions log at MLB.com.
Freeman, 30, was designated for assignment by the Dodgers when they acquired Yu Darvish in a last-minute deadline blockbuster and elected free agency later in the week. The versatile defender has appeared in 41 games between the Mariners, D-backs and Dodgers across the past two seasons, though he’s been more of a defensive replacement than a regular in the lineup. Freeman’s at-bats have been sporadic, and his 63 Major League plate appearances have resulted in just a .123/.206/.193 batting line.
His work in Triple-A has been substantially better. In parts of four seasons and a total of 1385 plate appearances at that level, Freeman has slashed an excellent .315/.379/.422 with nine homers and a near-perfect 35 steals in 36 attempts. He’s played all four infield positions and both outfield corners in the Majors, and he also has 686 innings of center field work under his belt in the minors.