Orioles Designate Paul Janish For Assignment
The Orioles have designated infielder Paul Janish for assignment, the club announced. The move creates roster space for Chris Tillman, who was reinstated from the paternity list.
[Updated Orioles depth chart at Roster Resource]
This is the fourth time that Janish has been designated for assignment in his two-plus seasons in the Orioles organization, and he was also outrighted off the 40-man roster last June. Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun tweets that the Orioles are hoping Janish will continue to remain in the organization, as this latest DFA was something of a roster crunch. Janish still has a minor league option remaining, while fellow utility infielder Ruben Tejada does not.
Janish has appeared in 42 games in an O’s uniform, serving as bench depth at shortstop, third base and second base in various short-term stints while amassing just 99 plate appearances since the start of the 2015 season. Known more for his defense and versatility than his bat, Janish has a .212/.280/.284 slash line over 1305 career PA with the Orioles, Braves and Reds since 2008.
Brewers Acquire International Signing Slots From Orioles
The Brewers have picked up multiple international signing bonus slots from the Orioles, per a Baltimore announcement. It’s not clear just how many or which of the O’s remaining slots were moved in the deal.
Heading to the O’s in the swap is righty Aaron Myers. The 23-year-old owns a 4.37 ERA with 9.5 K/9 against 4.4 BB/9 over his 35 innings on the year at the Class A level.
This is the latest step taken by Baltimore to trade in its international spending capacity rather than utilizing it to sign amateur players. Recently, the team pulled off a similar deal with the Mets.
Twins Sign Bartolo Colon
The Twins have signed veteran righty Bartolo Colon to a minors deal, per a club announcement. He’ll head to the organization’s top affiliate.
It’s not tough to see the fit. Minnesota has struggled to find reliable innings from its rotation, outside of top starters Ervin Santana and Jose Berrios, and also has depth issues in the bullpen. With the club still holding onto hopes of competing for the postseason, but not interested in punting too much future value for immediate improvements, it’ll take a shot on the veteran castaway just three weeks before the trade deadline.
Minnesota will only be responsible to pay Colon at the league-minimum rate during any time he spends in the majors, with the Braves covering the remainder of his $12.5MM annual salary. Evidently, the Twins offered a more appealing situation — whether in terms of opportunity, competitiveness, or otherwise — than did the Mets, who were among the other teams pursuing Colon.
Colon, 44, had thrived for the Mets over the past three seasons, capping off his time there with 191 2/3 innings of 2.43 ERA ball in 2016. But he has been rocked through 13 starts in the current season, allowing 57 earned runs on 92 hits through 63 innings. The Twins will hope that Colon can regain his pinpoint control while also returning to the good graces of the BABIP gods, who cursed him with a .360 batting average on balls in play and 48.2% strand rate during his time in Atlanta.
Minor MLB Transactions: 7/7/17
Here are the day’s minor moves:
- The Padres have outrighted infielder Chase d’Arnaud, per a club announcement. The 30-year-old lost his roster spot in San Diego after recording just seven hits in 51 plate appearances. He has also appeared briefly this year for the Braves and Red Sox, marking his sixth season of MLB action. The versatile infielder owns only a .223/.278/.306 batting line in 499 total MLB plate appearances.
- Also outrighted to Triple-A was Royals righty Seth Maness, per Kansas City. He has made it back from a partial UCL tear, helping to pioneer primary repair surgery in the process, but was not successful upon his return to the majors. The 28-year-old surrendered 16 base hits (albeit only four earned runs) in his 9 2/3 innings with the Royals and struggled also in his Triple-A time. But perhaps there’s still hope of a rebound for a pitcher who put up loads of good innings for the Cardinals over the prior four campaigns.
Dodgers Agree To Terms With First-Rounder Jeren Kendall
5:02pm: Los Angeles has also landed Cooper ($870K) and Wong ($550K), Callis reports (Twitter links).
2:58pm: The Dodgers have agreed to terms with first-round pick Jeren Kendall, per MLB.com’s Jim Callis (via Twitter). The Vanderbilt outfielder will receive a $2.9MM bonus, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (Twitter link).
Kendall, a left-handed-hitting junior, was taken with the 23rd overall pick, which came with a $2,702,700 allocation. Entering today, Los Angeles had yet to make things official with Kendall, second-rounder Morgan Cooper, and third-round pick Connor Wong.
Draft analysts split on Kendall, an accomplished college player credited by some as a five-tool player. That led MLB.com to rank him sixth among draft-eligible players. But he also placed as low as 18th (Baseball America), owing to concerns that he still swings and misses too frequently after three years at a top program.
Cubs Agree With First-Rounder Alex Lange
Thirtieth overall draft pick Alex Lange has agreed to a $1.925MM bonus to join the Cubs, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (Twitter links). Whether the sides would find common ground came into question today due to as-yet-unreported medical concerns.
Evidently, the health issues weren’t enough to scuttle the deal, though Lange will take home less than the slot value of $2,184,300. The righty had the option of spending another year at LSU, but that’d have left him facing another year of injury risk with little in the way of anticipated leverage for next year’s draft.
Sixth-round pick Jeremiah Estrada will take home a well-over-slot $1MM bonus, Callis tweets. That bonus level wouldn’t have been possible absent agreement with Lange, Callis notes, unless Chicago was willing to give up a first-round pick next year as a penalty. The Cubs also landed fifth-rounder Nelson Velazquez, Callis tweets. His status had been uncertain as well with the signing deadline looming.
Reds Strike Last-Minute Deal With Hunter Greene
The Reds have agreed to sign second overall pick Hunter Greene, according to MLB.com’s Jim Callis (Twitter links), with a record-setting $7.23MM bonus landing the multi-talented youngster. Things came right down to the wire for the California prep star, though most believed all along that he’d end up putting pen to paper.
Greene was taken second overall in the recent Rule 4 draft. That slot came with an allocation of $7,193,200. Just how much bonus money Greene would land, though, could only be sorted out through post-draft negotiations. It was long suggested that his reps were pushing for the highest-ever signing bonus under the current draft slot system, which he did ultimately achieve.
Greene’s alternatives were to attend UCLA, where he had committed, for at least three years; or instead to enroll in a junior college — thus permitting re-entry into the draft after just one season. For the team, missing on Greene would’ve meant landing the third overall pick in next year’s draft. Clearly, though, both saw a deal as the optimal outcome, and that’s just what occurred.
Unsurprisingly, there was a considerable amount of jockeying among the first several draft selections. Fourth overall pick Brendan McKay (Rays, $7,005,000) and fifth overall selection Kyle Wright (Braves, $7MM) both took home more than first overall pick Royce Lewis (Twins, $6.725MM).
Entering the draft, Greene was generally seen as the top available talent. ESPN.com’s Keith Law had him atop his board, as did the prospect analyst teams at Baseball America and MLB.com.
Though he’s considered a significant prospect at shortstop, Greene’s greatest upside lies on the mound. Per the scouting reports, he works off of a huge fastball that he commands well with a smooth delivery and excellent athleticism. Though his secondary pitches are in need of refinement, that’s to be expected for a player who won’t even reach 18 years of age until August.
Minor MLB Transactions: 7/6/17
Here are Thursday’s minor moves from around the game…
- The Yankees announced that outfielder Mason Williams has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Williams, 25, has seen brief MLB action in each of the past three seasons. But he was struggling badly on the year at Triple-A, posting a .252/.298/.296 batting line over 251 plate appearances.
- Outfielder Michael Reed has been outrighted off the Brewers‘ 40-man roster to Double-A, per a club announcement. Milwaukee did not announce a corresponding roster move. The 24-year-old Reed has played in 15 major league ballgames since the start of the 2015 season, but now loses his 40-man spot. While the NL Central-leading Brewers haven’t yet filled it, they’ll be hunting for additions at the deadline and are already loaded with other young outfielders. Reed will remain at Biloxi, where he owns a .209/.347/.356 slash in 199 trips to the plate.
White Sox Designate Michael Ynoa For Assignment
The White Sox announced Thursday that they’ve reinstated closer David Robertson from the paternity list and designated righty Michael Ynoa for assignment in order to clear a spot on the roster.
Ynoa was once one of the most promising prospects ever to come out of the Dominican Republic, signing with the Athletics for a then-record $4.25MM back in 2008. He rated as the game’s No. 54 prospect the following offseason, per Baseball America, but he never delivered on that considerable potential. Elbow soreness and tendinitis wiped out his first year as a pro, and that was followed by Tommy John surgery a year later. Upon returning, he delivered mostly middling results in the Athletics’ minor league system.
Now 25 years of age, Ynoa made his MLB debut with the Sox last year, pitching to a 3.00 ERA in 30 innings but limped to a 5.90 mark through a nearly identical sample size of 29 frames with the 2017 Sox. He’s shown some ability to miss bats, but control has been an issue for Ynoa, who has a 53-to-39 K/BB ratio through his 59 Major League innings to date. He also experienced a significant dip in fastball velocity this season (though he still averaged 92.4 mph), while each of his strikeout, walk, home run and grounder rates trended in the wrong direction.
Braves To Release Bartolo Colon
The Braves are set to release veteran righty Bartolo Colon, who was designated for assignment last week, as Grant McAuley of 929 The Game / CBS Radio first reported (on Twitter). FanRag’s Jon Heyman writes that the Braves didn’t drum up any interest in Colon (presumably, any efforts to do so included Atlanta eating a vast majority of the remaining contract), and he’ll officially hit the open market today.
There have been multiple reports linking the Mets to a reunion with Colon, though Heyman notes that other clubs have some interest as well now that he can be had for the prorated portion of the league minimum — which is roughly $254K through season’s end.
Colon, 44, pitched to an awful 8.14 ERA through 63 innings with the Braves, averaging 6.0 K/9, 2.9 BB/9 and 1.57 HR/9 with a 45.6 percent ground-ball rate. Of course, despite those numbers, there’s at least some reason to be optimistic about a turnaround. Colon’s .360 average on balls in play is the highest in baseball among pitchers with at least 60 innings pitched, yet he doesn’t rank anywhere near the top of the league in terms of hard contact allowed. In fact, he’s 23rd out of 129 pitchers in terms of weak contact induced, per that same innings criteria. He’s also posted a bizarrely low 48.2 percent strand rate.
That, of course, isn’t to say that anyone should expect a return to last year’s 3.43 ERA form, though. While ERA alternatives like FIP, xFIP and SIERA all suggest that Colon’s sky-high ERA is due for some correction, each still pegs him right around 5.00. And hitter-friendly SunTrust Park did no favors for Colon (8.25 ERA in 24 innings), the reality is that his ERA was also north of 8.00 on the road, where he surrendered eight of his 11 homers.
Colon’s track record of durability and affable clubhouse persona will likely appeal to a number of teams, but few contending clubs could realistically pick him up and insert him directly into the rotation. Of course, Colon could still help those teams by reporting to Triple-A to try to get back on track or by joining the bullpen as a long reliever, perhaps eventually proving himself worthy of another look as a starter.