James Loney Granted Release From Braves
Veteran first baseman James Loney asked for his release from the Braves and was granted that request, according to a club announcement. He had only just signed a minor-league deal with Atlanta last Thursday.
The Braves were clearly searching for solutions in the wake of an injury to starting first baseman Freddie Freeman. While Loney would have represented a plausible fill-in, the club ended up finding a piece with somewhat greater long-term interest not long after coming to terms with Loney.
Atlanta acquired Matt Adams from the Cardinals over the weekend, and he’ll represent the team’s top option at first until Freeman returns. That left little room for Loney on the active roster.
“We wish him all the best going forward,” the Braves when announcing the move. Loney will now look to latch on with another club that has a clearer path to a spot on the big league roster.
Loney, 33, opened the year at Triple-A in the Tigers organization, struggling to a .200/.351/.222 batting line in 57 plate appearances before he was released. Last year, he hit .265/.307/.397 in 366 trips to the dish at the major league level for the Mets.
Minor MLB Transactions: 5/22/17
Here are Monday’s minor moves from around the league…
- Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that right-hander Carlos Frias has accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Columbus after clearing waivers (Twitter link). The Indians designated the longtime Dodgers reliever for assignment over the weekend. Frias, 27, has a 4.50 ERA with 5.9 K/9, 2.7 BB/9 and a 53.7 percent ground-ball rate in 114 Major League innings spread across parts of three seasons. He’s struggled in Triple-A this year, however, surrendering 17 earned runs on 20 hits and nine walks with eight strikeouts in 17 innings.
Earlier Moves
- The Astros will select the contract of right-hander Jordan Jankowski from Triple-A Fresno today, reports Brian McTaggart of MLB.com (Twitter link). He’s not on the 40-man roster, meaning the team will need to make another move to accommodate him. Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle reports that Jankowski will replace lefty Ashur Tolliver on the active roster, though Tolliver has minor league options remaining, so he needn’t be designated for assignment and can rather be optioned. Houston selected Jankowski in the 34th round of the 2008 draft, but he elected to attend college at Catawba College, in Salirbury, N.C. Four years later, the Astros again selected Jankowski — once again in the 34th round. The 28-year-old owns a pristine 1.42 ERA with a 22-to-9 K/BB ratio in 19 innings this season in Triple-A.
Astros Designate Andrew Aplin For Assignment
The Astros announced that they’ve designated outfielder Andrew Aplin for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for right-hander Jordan Jankowski, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Fresno.
The 26-year-old Aplin was a fifth-round pick of the Astros back in 2012, and while he reached Triple-A for the first time as a 23-year-old in 2014, his career has stalled somewhat at that level. Aplin has now spent parts of four seasons there, hitting a combined .245/.341/.329 with eight homers and 47 steals through 249 games (953 plate appearances). That includes a .250/.375/.345 batting line in 2017 — his age-26 campaign.
Jankowski, 28, was drafted by the Astros out of high school in 2008 and out of college in 2012 — both in the 34th round. He’s worked to an excellent 1.42 ERA with a 22-to-9 K/BB ratio in 19 innings this season in Triple-A and has a lifetime 3.24 ERA with 11.9 K/9 against 4.4 BB/9 in 153 innings at that level.
Angels Option C.J. Cron To Triple-A
The Angels announced on Monday that they’ve optioned first baseman/designated hitter C.J. Cron to Triple-A Salt Lake and recalled infielder Nolan Fontana in his place.
Entering the season, Cron was a popular trade candidate once the Angels signed Luis Valbuena, as it was reported that Valbuena would spend quite a bit of time at first base. The 27-year-old Cron, though, injured his left foot late in Spring Training and has hit poorly in 90 plate appearances since being activated: .232/.281/.305 with just one homer (a grand slam in yesterday’s game).
[Related: Updated Los Angeles Angels depth chart]
Slow start notwithstanding, Cron’s demotion comes as a mild surprise. He spent the entire 2016 season on the Angels’ Major League roster and hasn’t been optioned to the minors since early June of the 2015 campaign. And from the time of his recall from that most recent Triple-A stint through the end of the 2016 season, Cron slashed an impressive .281/.325/.481 with 31 long balls over the life of 735 Major League plate appearances. While that’s not quite elite production, it’s considerably better than the league average (121 wRC+).
From a service time vantage point, however, the move isn’t likely to impact Cron one way or another. He entered the year with two years, 110 days of Major League service time, meaning he needed just 62 days in the Majors to reach his third full year of service, thereby keeping him on track to reach free agency following the 2020 season. While he hasn’t quite reached the requisite 62 days, he needs just 12 more days of service time in order to do so. Even if Cron were to spend the bulk of the season in Triple-A, he’d still accrue those final 12 days as a September call-up, so the only real way this would delay his free agency would be if he were to incur a season-ending injury in the minors and finish out the year on the disabled list.
With Cron in the minors and Yunel Escobar on the disabled list, it seems likely that Valbuena will spend a considerable amount of time at third base, with Jefry Marte handling duties at first base. Albert Pujols could see a bit of action at first as well, though he’s played in the field just twice in 40 games this season, so the team doesn’t appear to view him as a regular option there.
Angels Sign Doug Fister
12:15pm: Fletcher reports that Fister also has an out clause in his contract and will be released if he’s not in the Majors by June 21 (Twitter link). Cotillo noted that the contract has up to $1.2MM worth of incentives available, and as the Associated Press reports, $1MM of those incentives are tied to starting, while $200K are tied to relief work. According to the AP, Fister will earn $100K for making each of his eighth, 10th and 12th starts as an Angel. He’d also earn $150K apiece for reaching 14, 16 and 18 starts, plus another $250K if he starts a 20th game. The deal also has $200K worth of relief incentives — $50K for his 25th and 30th appearances plus $100K for his 35th.
MAY 22, 7:38am: Cotillo reports that Fister will received a pro-rated $1.75MM base salary in the Majors. Fister’s salary is not guaranteed, Fletcher tweets.
MAY 20: The Angels have made the signing official, with Fister inking a one-year deal (hat tip to Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register). He will be assigned to Class-A ball in order to get himself ready for big league action. In a corresponding move to create 40-man roster space, Andrew Bailey was shifted to the 60-day DL.
MAY 18: The Angels are in agreement with free-agent right-hander Doug Fister on a Major League contract, reports SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (via Twitter). Fister is a client of PSI Sports Management.
As of last week, the 33-year-old Fister was said to be close to signing, and Cotillo listed the Angels as one of five clubs in the mix for him at that time. Presumably, though his contract is of the Major League variety, the veteran Fister has consented to be optioned to the minors in order to ramp up to the point where he’s big league ready. Due to the fact that he didn’t sign a contract this past offseason, Fister hasn’t been pitching competitively anywhere and isn’t likely to be ready to step right onto a big league pitching staff.
Pitching depth is a clear area of need for the Halos, who entered the season with Andrew Heaney and Nick Tropeano mending from Tommy John surgery and have since lost Garrett Richards (biceps strain) and Tyler Skaggs (oblique strain) to long-term injuries. (Skaggs, who is expected to miss more than two months, could be moved to the 60-day DL to create room for Fister on the 40-man roster).
With those four arms on the shelf, the Halos have been utilizing Ricky Nolasco, Matt Shoemaker, J.C. Ramirez, Jesse Chavez and Alex Meyer in the starting rotation. Fister could conceivably step into the spot of either Chavez or Meyer, though he could also begin the year in a long relief role if the Halos’ incumbent starters are performing well by the time he’s ready to join the staff.
It came as something of a surprise when Fister went unsigned this winter. Perhaps the veteran was holding out in hopes of securing a MLB roster spot, as he has now done. Whatever the reason, there ere plenty of organizations that surely would’ve liked to bring him in to compete in camp. After all, he was a high-quality starter as recently as 2014, when he gave the Nationals 164 innings of 2.41 ERA pitching.
That’s not to say that Fister had entered the open market on a high note. He inked a one-year, make-good deal with the Astros last year after struggling (and losing velocity) in 2015. Things did not go as hoped, as Fister ended with a 4.64 ERA with 5.7 K/9 against an uncharacteristically high 3.1 BB/9.
Looking underneath the hood a bit, that 2016 effort doesn’t look a whole lot better. Fister worked out of the zone less than ever (46.1% versus 52.3% career) even as he drew less chases than he had previously (28.9% versus 32.0% career). His typically strong groundball rates have fallen somewhat over the past two years, with Fister also allowing more dingers (over 1.2 per nine) than he had during his peak years.
If there was a positive to be found in Fister’s 2016 campaign, it was definitely in the health department. He made it through 32 starts for the first time since 2013 and did rebound a bit in the velocity department — though he still averaged about a tick less with the fastball than he did in 2014. If Fister can build on that, with an extra-long winter rest under his belt, then perhaps there’s a resurgence still to be found for the respected veteran.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Padres Designate Luis Sardinas For Assignment
The Padres have announced that they’ve designated infielder Luis Sardinas for assignment. The move comes in the wake of this afternoon’s news that the team had claimed another infielder, Chase d’Arnaud, from the Red Sox.
Sardinas only turned 24 this week, has played in parts of four big-league seasons, and can play shortstop, second, or third. But he’s been a significant part of the Padres’ infield struggles this season, batting a meager .163/.226/.163 over 53 plate appearances thus far. The Padres have ranked last in the NL in fWAR at both second and short so far this year, and have been fourth worst in the league at third base. While Sardinas hasn’t taken the bulk of the playing time at any of those positions, he hasn’t helped, and there’s perhaps some hope that replacing Sardinas with d’Arnaud will move the needle somewhat.
Sardinas reached the big leagues with the Rangers at 20 and appeared at one point to be a significant asset (rating in top 100 prospects lists for MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus), although a large part of that perception likely stemmed from his age relative to the levels at which he played as opposed to his performances there. He’s been traded three times in less than three years, with the diminishing returns in each deal corresponding with his falling value as he struggled to get established in the big leagues. He headed to the Brewers organization prior to the 2015 season along with Corey Knebel and Marcos Diplan for Yovani Gallardo, then to the Mariners for Ramon Flores the next winter. The Padres acquired him for a player to be named last August.
Minor MLB Transactions: 5/21/17
Sunday’s minor moves from around baseball:
- Indians right-hander Carlos Frias cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A, per an announcement from the club. Frias, whom Cleveland designated for assignment Tuesday, has worked exclusively at the Triple-A level this year and posted a 9.00 ERA, 4.24 K/9 and 4.76 BB/9 in 17 innings.
- The Mariners have signed outfielder Keury De La Cruz to a minor league deal. The 25-year-old played in the independent American Association last season after spending 2009-15 with the Red Sox organization. De La Cruz, whom Baseball America ranked as the Red Sox’s 25th-best prospect after the 2012 season, is a career .270/.318/.430 hitter with 58 home runs and 78 stolen bases (and 50 caught stealings) in 2,648 minor league plate appearances.
Earlier moves:
- The Marlins announced that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Vance Worley, who will start their game against the Dodgers on Sunday. Worley hadn’t cracked the majors this year until now, having spent the first month-plus at Triple-A after inking a minor league deal in early April. The 29-year-old Worley hasn’t been great at that level, with a 4.43 ERA, 4.43 K/9 and 2.22 BB/9 in 44 2/3 innings. The well-traveled swingman has prevented runs at a respectable clip in the majors, though, evidenced by a 3.75 ERA over 595 1/3 career frames.
- The Orioles have selected infielder Paul Janish‘s contract from Triple-A, per a team announcement. He’ll fill in for reserve infielder Ryan Flaherty, who went on the disabled list with a right shoulder strain. The defensively adept Janish is in his third season in the Orioles organization, but he has collected just 28 plate appearances with the O’s to this point. While Janish got off to a .255/.364/.378 start this season in 118 PAs with Norfolk prior to his promotion, he’s only a .216/.284/.289 hitter in 1,277 major league trips to the plate.
- The Royals have released left-hander Kyle Bartsch, tweets Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com. This is the second time Kansas City has parted with Bartsch, whom it chose in the seventh round of the 2013 draft and then traded to San Diego for outfielder Reymond Fuentes a year later. The Padres released Bartsch last season, and he ended up back with the Royals and pitched to a microscopic .94 ERA (with 7.22 K/9 and 1.88 BB/9) in 28 2/3 Double-A innings. The 26-year-old has not pitched this season, however.
Padres Claim Chase d’Arnaud
The Padres have claimed infielder Chase d’Arnaud off waivers from the Red Sox, tweets Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe. D’Arnaud had been in limbo since the Red Sox designated him for assignment Thursday.
This marks the second time a team has claimed d’Arnaud this season. The 30-year-old ended up with Boston last month shortly after Atlanta waived him. In 11 combined plate appearances with the Braves and Red Sox, d’Arnaud collected four hits and two walks. Also a former Pirate and Phillie, d’Arnaud owns a .233/.289/.314 batting line in 448 major league trips to the plate.
In San Diego, the out-of-options d’Arnaud will join Allen Cordoba and Luis Sardinas as the Padres’ infield-capable reserves. Cordoba has mostly played the outfield this year, though, while Sardinas has slumped to a .163/.226/.163 showing in 53 PAs.
Astros Place Brian McCann On DL, Select Juan Centeno’s Contract
The Astros have placed catcher Brian McCann on the seven-day concussion disabled list, retroactive to Saturday, and selected the contract of fellow backstop Juan Centeno from Triple-A, per Brian McTaggart of MLB.com (on Twitter).
McCann is now the second prominent Astro to hit the DL since Saturday, joining ace Dallas Keuchel on the shelf. Like Keuchel, McCann has thrived for the 29-14 Astros, owners of the majors’ best record. McCann, whom Houston acquired from the Yankees in an offseason trade, has slashed .269/.365/.454 with six home runs and as many walks as strikeouts (17) in 126 plate appearances. On the defensive side, the 33-year-old has continued a careerlong trend of serving as a plus pitch framer, according to Baseball Prospectus.
Fortunately for the Astros, they do have a quality reserve behind McCann in the power-hitting Evan Gattis, who has also performed well this season. Centeno, an offseason minor league signing, will back up Gattis. The 27-year-old Centeno has been great this season at Triple-A, where he has slashed .368/.395/.487 line in 83 PAs, though he hasn’t been nearly as successful in the majors. In 258 big league PAs, including 192 with the Twins last year, Centeno has hit .236/.290/.338. Behind the plate, BP ranked him among the majors’ worst framers in 2016.
Royals Designate Al Alburquerque For Assignment
The Royals have designated right-hander Al Alburquerque for assignment, tweets Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com.
Alburquerque, whom the Royals signed to a minor league deal over the winter, debuted with the big club earlier this month and ended up tossing four innings before losing his 40-man spot. The 30-year-old gave up three earned runs on two hits and three walks during that short span, though he did strike out six.
Alburquerque was once a prominent reliever in Detroit, where he recorded a 3.20 ERA, 11.04 K/9, 5.0 BB/9 and a 47 percent ground-ball rate over 225 innings from 2011-15. But his velocity has dropped since his tenure with the Tigers came to an end, and he has combined for just six major league frames dating back to 2016, when he worked a pair of innings with the Angels.