Brewers Claim Blake Parker, Designate David Goforth
The Brewers have announced that they’ve claimed reliever Blake Parker off waivers from the Angels, who designated him for assignment last weekend. To clear space on their 40-man roster, they’ve designated fellow righty David Goforth for assignment.
The 32-year-old Parker has been a fixture in the transactions pages recently — he began the 2016 season with the Mariners, then headed to the Yankees and then Angels via waiver claims. He hasn’t pitched more than 21 innings in the big leagues in a season since 2013 with the Cubs, but it’s easy to see why a variety of teams have shown interest in him, since he posted an outstanding 2.72 ERA, 12.7 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 in 39 2/3 innings with Triple-A Tacoma in 2016. He also pitched 17 1/3 innings in the big leagues, posting a 4.67 ERA, 7.8 K/9 and 4.7 BB/9 while registering an average fastball velocity of 92.2 MPH. As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tom Haudricourt tweets, Brewers pitching coach Derek Johnson is likely quite familiar with Parker, since Johnson was the Cubs’ minor league pitching coordinator for several years while Parker pitched in the Cubs’ system.
The 28-year-old Goforth struggled in both Triple-A and the big leagues in 2016, allowing 14 runs in 10 2/3 innings in the Brewers bullpen. He held his own in the Majors in his rookie season in 2015, but has since struggled to replicate that modest success — which isn’t a huge surprise, given control problems that have plagued him in parts of four seasons in the high minors.
Angels Designate Jose Valdez, Blake Parker, Abel De Los Santos
WEDNESDAY: The Angels have announced that they’ve outrighted Valdez and De Los Santos to Triple-A Salt Lake. As we’ve noted elsewhere, the Brewers claimed Parker off waivers.
FRIDAY: The Angels announced that they’ve designated right-handed pitchers Jose Valdez, Blake Parker and Abel De Los Santos for assignment and also outrighted infielder Rey Navarro off the 40-man roster. The moves pave way for the addition of left-hander Nate Smith and right-handers Keynan Middleton, Austin Adams and Eduardo Paredes to the 40-man roster.
Valdez, 26, posted a respectable 4.24 ERA in 23 1/3 innings with the Angels this season and averaged a robust 95.3 mph on his heater, making him at least an intriguing future option for the Halos next season. However, he also issued 16 walks, hit a batter and uncorked a pair of wild pitches in that brief time with the Angels, demonstrating enough of a control issue that the team didn’t see fit to dedicate a 40-man roster slot to him this winter.
Parker, 31, split the 2016 season between the Mariners and Yankees, totaling 17 1/3 innings of 4.67 ERA ball with 15 strikeouts against eight unintentional walks. The Angels claimed him back in earlyt October, on the heels of a season in which he actually averaged a career-best 92.2 mph on his fastball this season and does come with a 3.67 career ERA in 90 1/3 innings at the Major League level. He’s an extreme fly-ball pitcher and has averaged 10.5 K/9 in parts of nine seasons at Triple-A but has also averaged 4.2 walks per nine innings there.
De Los Santos was also an offseason waiver claim by the Angels, out of the Reds organization. De Los Santos tossed 20 1/3 innings in Triple-A this season and logged a 3.54 ERA with a 26-to-13 K/BB ratio, and he has a lifetime 3.03 ERA in Double-A as well. He has just 7 1/3 innings of big league experience under his belt, during which he’s allowed eight runs.
Among the four players added to the 40-man roster, Smith is perhaps the most interesting. The lefty had a 4.61 ERA with 7.3 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9 in 150 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level last year, which doesn’t really stand out, but he does rank as the top pitching prospect in the organization, per MLB.com. The Halos will enter 2017 with Garrett Richards, Matt Shoemaker, Tyler Skaggs and Ricky Nolasco locked into rotation spots, health permitting, leaving the fifth spot up for grabs among Smith, Jesse Chavez, Alex Meyer and Daniel Wright (plus any further offseason additions).
Minor MLB Transactions: 11/23/16
Here are the day’s minor moves:
- The Rockies have brought back infielder Josh Rutledge on a minor league deal, per the MLBRosterMoves Twitter account. He receives a camp invitation in the contract. Rutledge, 27, cracked the majors with Colorado and has taken most of his plate appearances there. After a minor league stint with the Angels, he returned to the majors with the Red Sox in each of the last two seasons, posting a cumulative .276/.338/.358 batting line over 141 plate appearances. Rutledge missed the bulk of the past season due to knee issues and took free agency after being outrighted by Boston.
Earlier Moves
- Outfielder Jaff Decker has signed on with the Athletics on a minor league pact, agent Tom O’Connell announced on Twitter. The deal includes an invitation to participate in MLB camp next spring. Deckr, 26, has seen scattered action in each of the last four major league campaigns, but has mostly plied his trade at the highest level of the minors in recent years. At Triple-A last year with the Rays, he slashed .255/.366/.421 with a dozen home runs and 18 stolen bases over 417 plate appearances.
- The Angels have struck minor league deals with outfielder Shane Robinson and infielder Rey Navarro, as Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports via Twitter. Both spent the 2016 season in the Halos organization, and will return for another run in 2017. Robinson, 32, hit just .173/.257/.235 over his 111 MLB plate appearances with Los Angeles, but brings a decent bit of major league experience (he’s appeared in seven seasons, though has only taken 760 trips to the plate) and provides a depth option all over the outfield. The 26-year-old Navarro, a glove-first utility piece, hit .227/.253/.325 in his 175 plate appearances at Triple-A last year.
- Righty David Buchanan has been given his release by the Phillies, per a club announcement. He was designated for assignment recently as the team overhauled its 40-man roster. Buchanan ought to draw interest from teams looking for rotation depth. He pitched to a 3.75 ERA over twenty big league starts in 2014, though he was hammered to the tune of a 6.99 earned run average in his 15 starts in the following year. Buchanan fared better at Triple-A in 2016, though, posting a 3.98 ERA over 167 1/3 innings.
- The Royals requested release waivers on catcher Tony Cruz, who was also recently designated, as MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan tweets. The 30-year-old will surely head onto the open market, as he’d otherwise be eligible for arbitration (with a projected $1MM salary). He spent most of 2016 at Triple-A, slashing .264/.347/.387 in 363 plate appearances.
Spencer Patton Signs With Yokohama BayStars
Right-hander Spencer Patton is headed to Japan’s Yokohama BayStars, per a club announcement (via the Japan Times). The Cubs sold Patton’s contract to Yokohama, per MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat (Twitter link), and released him from the big league roster to facilitate the move.
The 28-year-old reliever has shown swing-and-miss stuff at the major league level, but hasn’t yet translated that to effective innings. Over his 54 2/3 frames in the bigs over the past three seasons, Patton has worked to a 6.26 ERA with 9.5 K/9 and 4.6 BB/9. Those free passes have combined with a few too many home runs and an unfortunate 58.5% strand rate to produce the inflated earned-run tally.
Though Patton doesn’t have a huge fastball, his slider allows him to generate plenty of whiffs, and he has long posted double-digit K/9 rates in the minors. He was rather dominant last year in his 36 Triple-A frames, posting a 0.75 ERA with 14.8 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9 while allowing just 21 base hits.
Originally a 24th-round pick by the Royals, Patton was dealt to the Rangers in the deal that sent veteran righty Jason Frasor to Kansas City in July of 2014. He ended up in Chicago in exchange for infielder Frandy De La Rosa in a swap last November.
Nationals Acquire Jimmy Cordero
The Nationals have acquired minor league righty Jimmy Cordero from the division-rival Phillies, per a club announcement. Philadelphia will receive cash or a player to be named in the agreement.
Cordero, who recently turned 25, was designated for assignment as part of the Phillies’ house-cleaning effort in advance of the recent deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 draft. Though he hasn’t appeared in the majors, he was added to the 40-man last winter to prevent other organizations from staking a Rule 5 claim on him.
Arm issues limited Cordero to just 22 appearances last year, spread across the Phillies’ farm system. But he showed promise in 2015, when he ran up 67 innings of 2.55 ERA pitching with 8.6 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9. Cordero was acquired by the Phils in the middle of that season in the deal that sent Ben Revere to the Blue Jays.
Phillies GM Matt Klentak recently explained why the organization had made the decision to move Cordero off of the big league roster. “A year ago at this time, we were pretty high on Jimmy,” Klentak said. “His year was not as productive as we had hoped and as he had hoped. It becomes a numbers game. That may sound cliche, but truly that’s the reality of it. We like him a lot and we would love to keep him in the organization, if possible.”
Instead of stick in Philly, Cordero will move south to D.C. For the Nats, he represents a reasonably high-upside arm on which to take a chance. Scouts have been intrigued in the past by Cordero’s sometimes-triple-digit velocity and promising slider. While the control hasn’t always been there and his health is now in question, there’s some reason to believe that he could be ready for major league action in the near-term.
Astros Sign Josh Reddick
NOVEMBER 23: The deal has been announced, meaning Reddick is officially headed to Houston.
NOVEMBER 17: The Astros have struck twice today: after announcing a deal to acquire catcher Brian McCann, the club has now agreed to sign free-agent outfielder Josh Reddick, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (Twitter links). So long as his physical pans out, Reddick will receive a four-year, $52MM deal, per the report.
Houston entered the offseason with an immensely talented roster that didn’t quite meet expectations in 2016. The message all along from GM Jeff Luhnow was that the organization would be aggressive in building around a core that includes top-quality players such as Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, George Springer, and the fast-rising Alex Bregman.
With Yulieski Gurriel already brought into the fold in a mid-season international signing, it seems that the ‘Stros are mostly set on the position-player side of things. But there are still some areas that could see tinkering. Depending upon whether the organization intends to utilize Springer in center, a new regular (or platoon partner for Jake Marisnick) could still be pursued. With Bregman seemingly ensconced at third, Gulieski could spend his time in the corner outfield or perhaps at first base, which is the other area that could conceivably see a new addition.
Like McCann, Reddick will bring a left-handed bat to replace an outgoing player. In this case, it’s Colby Rasmus, who returned to the open market after a disappointing 2016 season. Though the ‘Stros had already dealt for Nori Aoki, who might have been in line for a similar role, it could flip him or simply not tender him a contract in arbitration.
Coming into the winter, the big question for Reddick was whether he’d be able to secure a fourth guaranteed year. While noting that possibility, MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes wagered that he wouldn’t in a market that is relatively robust on the supply side in corner outfielders. But Houston evidently believes in Reddick, giving the 29-year-old a fairly hefty contract.
Of course, that kind of deal might even have looked light as of the summer trade deadline. At that point, Reddick was in the midst of a quality season for the A’s (despite missing time early with a fractured thumb), which led the Dodgers to make him their primary position-player addition. But Reddick was terrible in August, and ended up being used in a platoon capacity in Los Angeles.
That wasn’t quite the end of the story, of course. Reddick put up a blistering September and ended with a solid overall .281/.345/.405 batting line and ten home runs over 439 plate appearances. Given that he spent much of his time hitting at the O.Co Coliseum, that represented above-average production, though it fell shy of the .269/.326/.448 slash he put up over the two prior campaigns.
There are certainly some questions in Reddick’s game. First and foremost: his ability to hit left-handed pitching. Reddick has always carried rather significant platoon splits, but things didn’t improve last year, as he posted an awful .155/.212/.155 slash over 104 trips to the plate against same-handed pitching. And despite a history of delivering value in the field and on the bases, Reddick didn’t rate very well in either area last year (though DRS disagreed with UZR on the glovework, grading him as an above-average right fielder).
Still, it’s not as big a commitment as it seems when placed in the overall market context. Reddick’s deal represents something like the going rate for solid players who are capable of near-regular playing time. It’s exactly what the Yankees gave Brett Gardner in an extension and just shy of the older Ben Zobrist‘s free agent contract from a winter ago. Other outfielders to land in this price range on four-year deals in recent years include Nick Markakis ($44MM), Nick Swisher ($56MM), and Michael Bourn ($48MM).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Anthony Ranaudo Signs With KBO’s Samsung Lions
Righty Anthony Ranaudo has signed a one-year deal with the Korea Baseball Organization’s Samsung Lions, the club announced (h/t Dan Kurtz of MyKBO.net, on Twitter). The 27-year-old, who was released by the White Sox to pursue the opportunity, will earn a $1.05MM salary.
Once a top-100 prospect in the Red Sox organization, Ranaudo has seen action in each of the last three major league seasons. The results, though, haven’t been very promising. He owns a 7.01 ERA over 86 frames and has recorded both 44 strikeouts and walks.
Ranaudo spent most of the 2016 campaign in the White Sox organization after being acquired from the Rangers via trade in the middle of May. He ended up in Texas in the early 2015 swap that sent Robbie Ross Jr. to Boston.
While his struggles at the game’s highest level continued, Ranaudo was rather effective in 19 starts at Triple-A last year. He threw 110 innings of 3.19 ERA ball at the highest level of the minors, posting 6.8 K/9 against just 1.2 BB/9.
Astros Outright Jon Singleton
TUESDAY: Singleton has cleared waivers and been assigned to Triple-A, Kaplan tweets.
SATURDAY: The Astros placed first baseman Jon Singleton on outright waivers yesterday, Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle reports (Twitter links). Kaplan expects Singleton to clear waivers when eligible on Tuesday, and Singleton will then be outrighted to Triple-A, and off the Astros’ 40-man roster.
Once considered one of the top minor leaguers in the sport, Singleton was the centerpiece of the prospect package sent by the Phillies to the Astros in July 2011 for Hunter Pence. Houston even signed Singleton to a five-year, $10MM extension prior to his major league debut in 2014, a deal that drew quite a bit of controversy given how it was perceived by some (including the MLBPA) as Singleton signing away quite a bit of future earning potential.
As it turned out, Singleton may have done well to lock down a big payday given his struggles over the last few years. He hit just .171/.290/.331 over 420 plate appearances in 2014-15 and he didn’t play in the bigs at all in 2016, instead spending the year at Triple-A Fresno and hitting .202/.337/.390 over 501 PA. That batting line is particularly concerning given that Singleton was playing in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League.
With A.J. Reed, Tyler White, Yulieski Gurriel and Brian McCann all looking like first base options on Houston’s major league roster, one has to wonder if Singleton’s time in the organization is coming to an end. As Kaplan noted, Singleton isn’t likely to be claimed by another team since the Astros still owe him $2MM in each of the next two years (plus a $500K buyout of his $2.5MM option for 2019).
Angels Claim Nolan Fontana, Designate Juan Graterol
The Angels announced today that they’ve claimed infielder Nolan Fontana off waivers from the Astros and designated catcher Juan Graterol for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster.
Fontana, 25, long rated as one of Houston’s top prospects but has seen his stock decline steadily in recent seasons. Baseball America rated him 29th among Astros farmhands last winter, and by midseason, he’d fallen off MLB.com’s top 30 Astros prospects entirely. The former second-round pick batted a combined .203/.282/.273 in 451 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A this year. While the ‘Stros once hoped that he could eventually man an up-the-middle infield spot, BA noted last winter that his ceiling now looked to be a utility infielder who draws plenty of walks but has bottom-of-the-scale power. BA did note that Fontana is a reliable defender at second base, even if he lacks the range or arm to handle shortstop on a regular basis. Fontana did hit .241/.369/.357 in a full season at Triple-A in 2015, so he does at least have a history of somewhat better performance at that level.
Graterol, 27, made his Major League debut and tallied 15 PAs with the Halos this past season. The former Royals farmhand spent the 2015 season in the Yankees organization before inking a minors pact with the Halos last offseason. He’s a career .274/.306/.338 hitter in parts of three seasons (95 games) at the Triple-A level.
Rangers Claim David Rollins
The Rangers announced on Tuesday that they’ve claimed lefty reliever David Rollins off waivers from the Cubs. Chicago had claimed Rollins off waivers from the Mariners last week and unsuccessfully attempted to sneak him through waivers.
[Related: Updated Texas Rangers Depth Chart]
The claim by Texas is a mild surprise, as the Rangers passed on claiming Rollins last week when the lefty fell to the Cubs in waiver priority. However, the Rangers now have a clearer picture of their 40-man roster after making some determinations in advance of the Rule 5 Draft. Texas may yet attempt to sneak Rollins through waivers themselves in similar fashion, though that’s just speculation on my behalf.
The 26-year-old Rollins (27 next month) is a former Rule 5 pick himself. Seattle selected him out of the Astros organization back in 2014, and Rollins wound up receiving an 80-game PED suspension before he threw a pitch for the Mariners during the regular season. In a bizarre way, that helped the Mariners keep him in the organization, though their selection of Rollins ultimately never paid dividends anyhow. The former 24th-round pick has a 7.60 ERA in 34 innings with the Mariners across the past two seasons and has averaged 7.1 K/9 against 3.9 BB/9 with a 41.9 percent ground-ball rate. He’s been rather unlucky, as evidenced by a .379 BABIP, but even the most optimistic ERA estimator pegs him in the mid-4.00s (4.41 SIERA). Rollins does have minor league options remaining, so if he’s able to survive the offseason on Texas’ 40-man roster, the team could option him and use him as a depth piece in the ‘pen next year.