Tigers Place Mark Lowe On Release Waivers
The Tigers have placed reliever Mark Lowe on unconditional release waivers, reports Jason Beck of MLB.com (Twitter link). The right-hander is due a $5.5MM salary this year, so he’ll likely clear waivers and become a free agent.
Lowe had to compete for a roster spot with Detroit this spring, which wasn’t the outcome the team envisioned when it inked him to a two-year, $11MM guarantee in December 2015. But Lowe then endured a disastrous 2016, when his average fastball velocity dropped from 95.5 mph in 2015 to 92.4 mph. Thanks in part to his less effective heater, Lowe registered a 7.11 ERA in 49 1/3 innings and saw his home run-to-fly ball ratio go from 8.9 percent in 2015 to 17.9 percent last season. Lowe also experienced a significant drop in swinging-strike rate (14.1 percent in 2015 to 10 percent) and nearly doubled his walk rate (1.96 per nine to 3.83).
Lowe was excellent two seasons ago with Seattle and Toronto, where he combined for career bests in ERA (1.96) and K/9 (9.98) across 55 frames, which led to his Detroit payday. The 33-year-old hasn’t been particularly consistent during his career, however, as he has posted subpar production in several campaigns. All told, though, Lowe’s output has been passable – despite having recorded a below-average ground-ball rate (39.8 percent), he has combined for a 4.22 ERA, 8.21 K/9 and 3.8 BB/9 in 385 2/3 innings with six teams.
Diamondbacks Release Kevin Jepsen
The Diamondbacks have released right-hander Kevin Jepsen, as per a club press release. Jepsen signed a minor league deal with Arizona last month that would have paid him $2.25MM in base salary if he reached the big league roster.
The 32-year-old suffered through a rough 2016 season with the Twins and Rays, posting a 5.98 ERA, 6.3 K/9 and 1.67 K/BB rate (career worsts in all three categories over a full season) in 49 2/3 innings. A big spike in home runs allowed and a .321 BABIP contributed to the problems, though Jepsen’s peripherals numbers also weren’t strong, including a 37.5% hard contact rate that was way above his 28.8% career average.
Jepsen’s struggles continued into the Diamondbacks’ spring camp, as he owned an ugly 12.27 ERA over 3 2/3 innings. Despite the recent downturn in form, Jepsen isn’t far removed from a solid track record as a bullpen arm, posting a 2.93 ERA over 215 1/3 innings for the Angels, Rays and Twins from 2012-15. One would think he’d get some looks on another minor league contract from other teams looking for relief help as Opening Day approaches.
Braves Release Blaine Boyer
The Braves have released right-hander Blaine Boyer, the club announced via Twitter. Boyer was in camp on a minor league contract.
Boyer, 35, posted a 3.95 ERA, 1.53 K/BB and just a 3.5 K/9 over 66 relief innings with the Brewers last season. That low strikeout rate is typical of Boyer’s career (he has just a 5.6 K/9 over 405 1/3 IP during his ten years in the bigs), as he has been a reliable bullpen arm thanks to an ability to induce soft contact and a 51.9% career grounder rate.
If Boyer doesn’t find a job elsewhere, the Braves have left the door open for the veteran to return on another minor league deal, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reports (Twitter links). Boyer said that the Braves would be his probable choice if he did have to settle for another minors deal, as the Georgia native would be able to live at home while pitching for Triple-A Gwinnett.
Minor MLB Transactions: 3/25/17
Here are the latest minor moves from around baseball, with the newest transactions at the top of the post…
- The Astros released left-hander C.J. Riefenhauser, as per Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). Riefenhauser signed a minor league deal with the Astros in December. The southpaw has been part of two rather notable trades in his career, going from the Rays to the Mariners as part of the five-player deal that saw Brad Miller and Nate Karns switch teams, and then joining Mark Trumbo in a trade to the Orioles for Steve Clevenger. Riefenhauser has a 6.30 ERA over 20 career MLB innings (with Tampa in 2014-15) and he spent 2016 in the Cubs’ farm system.
Indians Return Rule 5 Pick Hoby Milner To Phillies
The Indians have returned lefty Hoby Milner to the Phillies, per a club announcement. Milner, 26, was taken with the 27th pick in last winter’s Rule 5 draft.
Fresh off of a World Series run, Cleveland obviously would’ve needed to be rather impressed to give the 26-year-old an active roster spot. He did rack up nine strikeouts against three walks in his seven spring innings, though he also coughed up seven earned runs on nine hits.
Milner could factor into the Phillies’ depth plans entering the year now that he’s back in the fold. He did have a rather impressive 2016 season. Despite carrying pedestrian strikeout totals for most of his career to that point, Milner averaged 10.5 K/9 against just 2.1 BB/9 in his 65 frames in the upper minors, with a shiny 2.49 ERA on the year.
Diamondbacks Return Rule 5 Pick Tyler Jones To Yankees
The Diamondbacks have returned righty Tyler Jones to the Yankees, the clubs announced. Taken in the Rule 5 draft, Jones evidently wasn’t going to crack the Arizona active roster; instead, he will head to Triple-A after the Yankees accepted him back.
Jones, 27, enjoyed something of a breakout season in 2016. Working at Double-A Trenton, he turned in 45 2/3 innings of 2.17 ERA ball with an excellent 13.2 K/9 against 2.2 BB/9. That wasn’t enough for New York to put him on the 40-man, but evidently caught Arizona’s eye. The D-Backs took him with the seventh pick in last December’s Rule 5 draft, meaning they needed to keep him on the MLB roster all year to take over his control rights.
Jones didn’t do enough in camp to earn a shot at the majors, but did rack up eight strikeouts without a walk in his 6 2/3 spring frames. With no other organizations electing to take over the Rule 5 rights given up by the D-Backs, Jones will have to try to master the highest level of the minors and wait for an opportunity to open in the Bronx.
Giants Release David Hernandez
The Giants have released veteran righty David Hernandez, as Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area was among those to report on Twitter. Hernandez asked to be cut loose upon being informed that he would not crack the active roster to start the season.
Hernandez, 31, always faced an uphill battle to make the club with a variety of righties ahead of him in the pecking order. And he didn’t do enough to impress in his 5 2/3 spring frames, allowing three earned runs on seven hits and three walks while recording four strikeouts.
San Francisco took a shot on Hernandez with a minors deal that would have paid him $1.5MM had he made the roster. Last year, with the Phillies, he worked to a 3.84 ERA over 72 2/3 innings. With a 94.0 mph average fastball and 9.9 K/9 on the year, there were some positives, though he also walked 4.0 batters per nine with a meager 37.3% groundball rate while permitting 1.36 home runs per nine.
Minor MLB Transactions: 3/24/17
The latest minor moves from around baseball:
- Longtime major league reliever Joe Beimel has signed with the New Britain Bees of the independent Atlantic League, the team announced. The 39-year-old left-hander pitched for seven different big league teams from 2001-15, a 680-inning stretch in which he posted a 4.06 ERA, 5.02 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and a 47 percent ground-ball rate. Beimel spent last season at the Triple-A level with the Royals organization, though the club released him in mid-July after he allowed seven earned runs and issued more walks than strikeouts (eight to six) over 14 2/3 frames.
Giants Release Gordon Beckham
5:05pm: The Giants have officially released Beckham, the club told reporters (including Andrew Baggarly of the Bay Area News Group).
4:10pm: The Giants will release Gordon Beckham from his minor league contract with the club as per Beckham’s request, MLBTR has learned. Beckham originally joined the Giants in a late-September trade with the Braves and re-signed with the club in February, joining a very crowded battle within the Giants’ camp to decide the third base and utility infield jobs.
The 30-year-old Beckham will now look for a clearer opportunity elsewhere with teams in need of infield depth. Most of Beckham’s MLB experience has some at second base dating back to his days as a regular with the White Sox, though he has also seen substantial action at third base over the last three seasons and even some action at short, starting seven games at the position for Atlanta in 2016. Beckham has hit .211/.285/.340 over 516 PA since the start of the 2015 season, though he does own a career .260/.360/.458 slash line coming off the bench (in 114 PA) over his career.
Mariners Option Dan Vogelbach To Triple-A
In a somewhat surprising move, the Mariners announced that first baseman Dan Vogelbach has been optioned to Triple-A. GM Jerry Dipoto told reporters (including Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times) that veteran Danny Valencia will be the Mariners’ everyday first baseman, with utilityman Taylor Motter as the backup.
[Updated Mariners roster at Roster Resource]
Vogelbach is hitting just .228/.313/.333 over 64 plate appearances in Spring Training, which Dipoto said contributed to the decision. The slow start hasn’t removed Vogelbach from Seattle’s longer-term plans, however, as Dipoto noted that the the club is looking at the move in a similar vein as the Triple-A stints for Mike Zunino and James Paxton last season. Both players performed well after that extra bit of minor league seasoning, and given how Vogelbach has just eight big league games under his belt, it makes sense that he would get a bit of extra time at Triple-A.
Still, this move is notable since the Mariners spent much of the winter aiming to use Vogelbach as their regular first baseman against right-handed pitching. Acquired as part of the Mike Montgomery trade with the Cubs last July, Vogelbach owns an impressive .286/.391/.481 slash line and 83 homers over 2329 career PA in the minors since Chicago selected him in the second round of the 2011 draft.
While Vogelbach has drawn praise for his power and his patient approach at the plate, however, he is already showing signs of being a bat-only player at age 23, as he possesses below-average defense even at first base. His average and slugging numbers against southpaws in the minors are also well below his numbers against right-handed pitching, which is why the Mariners acquired the right-handed hitting Valencia this offseason.
Instead, Valencia now moves into an everyday role after hitting .287/.346/.446 line over 517 PA for the Athletics last season. With Shawn O’Malley sidelined for at least 10 days following an appendectomy, Motter has stepped up as the M’s top utility infield option. Ironically, first base is the spot where the versatile Motter has been the least amount of action (just 14 career games at first in the majors and minors), as he has been more regularly deployed everywhere else around the diamond except pitcher and catcher. Valencia doesn’t have impressive splits against right-handed pitching over his career and Motter is also a right-handed bat, so there’s a slim chance Seattle could explore one of the left-handed first base options (i.e. Ryan Howard, Justin Morneau or Kelly Johnson) still on the free agent market, but the far more likely scenario is that Vogelbach is promoted after a few weeks.