Minor MLB Transactions: 9/17/16
Here are the latest minor moves from around baseball…
- The Rangers outrighted left-hander Michael Roth to Triple-A after he accepted the assignment, club executive VP of communications John Blake tweets. Roth was designated for assignment earlier this week. The southpaw appeared in just one game for the Rangers this season (allowing six ER over 3 2/3 relief innings) while posting a 2.97 ERA, 2.24 K/BB rate and 5.8 K/9 over 145 1/3 innings at Triple-A, with 23 of his 28 outings coming as a starter.
- The Braves selected the contracts of utilityman Emilio Bonifacio and third baseman Rio Ruiz from Triple-A Gwinnett, the team announced. Catcher A.J. Pierzynski and righty Rob Whalen were shifted to the 60-day DL in corresponding moves to create roster space. Bonifacio was outrighted off Atlanta’s 40-man roster earlier this summer, and the veteran has appeared in just 15 games for the Braves in 2016. Ruiz, 22, is getting his first taste of the majors after hitting .271/.355/.400 with 10 homers and 24 doubles over 533 Triple-A plate appearances this season. MLB.com ranked Ruiz as the 15th-best prospect in the Braves’ system.
Royals Outright Nick Tepesch, Release Reymond Fuentes
The Royals have outrighted right-hander Nick Tepesch and released outfielder Reymond Fuentes, Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com was among those to tweet. Both players were recently trimmed from the 40-man roster and had been in DFA limbo.
Tepesch will remain under team control, assuming he clears waivers. He has been claimed several times already this year, most recently by Kansas City. Though Tepesch had enough service time in 2016 to qualify for arbitration as Super Two, and could again next year, he only appeared in one major league contest this season and thus doesn’t have the 86 active roster days needed to qualify.
All told, the 27-year-old Tepesch has completed 116 innings on the year at the highest level of the minors. He owns a 3.96 ERA with 4.8 K/9 against 2.2 BB/9. That’s not a particularly exciting stat line, but Tepesch has at least been healthy and could represent a swingman option for 2017.
The 25-year-old Fuentes will be allowed to find another organization after posting a less-than-inspiring .254/.325/.317 batting line in his 272 trips to the plate this year at Triple-A. He was much better there last year, but he failed to continue the minor power outbreak (nine home runs, .422 slugging percentage) that he showed in 2015.
Joel Peralta To Retire
Veteran righty Joel Peralta is set to retire, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports (Twitter links). Peralta visited the Rays clubhouse today to see former teammates in Tampa Bay.
Though he is apparently not planning to make any kind of formal announcement, Peralta says that he is “not going to play anymore.” Peralta has not signed with a team since he was cut loose by the Cubs over the summer, and suggested to Topkin that knee problems played a factor in the decision.
Despite a short and unsuccessful final stop, Peralta was pitching at 40 years of age. All told, he has enjoyed a rather remarkable and quite valuable career in the majors. A native of the Dominican Republic, Peralta did not even record a pitch with an affiliated organization until he was 24 years old.
Despite first cracking the big leagues at 29, he managed to appear in a dozen seasons. While not all of those campaigns were productive, Peralta was able to rack up 648 innings of 4.03 ERA pitching.
After generally underwhelming results to start his career, Peralta broke out in 2010 with the Nationals, when he began relying heavily on his splitter — the pitch that he credits for his success. That kicked off a four-year run in which Peralta compiled a 3.07 ERA over 255 frames, with 9.5 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9
Peralta’s K/BB ratio remained strong over his final three seasons, which included a final run with the Rays, a 2015 appearance for the Dodgers, and stops with the Mariners and Cubs this year. But he became increasingly susceptible to the long ball, and wasn’t able to hold opposing batters to less than four earned runs per nine innings during that span.
Ultimately, Peralta will probably be best remembered for his craftiness and resiliency. It “was never easy,” he tells Topkin. “I had to fight every year.”
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Yankees Sign Billy Butler
SEPT. 15: The Yankees have announced the signing of Butler to a Major League deal. Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi has been transferred to the 60-day disabled list to clear a spot on the 40-man roster.
SEPT. 14: The Yankees have reached an agreement to sign recently released Athletics designated hitter/first baseman Billy Butler, reports Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports (via Twitter). Heyman further specifies that Butler has signed a Major League contract with New York.
Specifics surrounding the deal aren’t known, but Butler can be had for nothing more than the pro-rated portion of the league minimum through season’s end following his release by Oakland. That means it’ll cost the Yanks about $50K to add Butler into the mix, presumably for the remainder of the 2016 campaign only.
Butler, 30, signed a three-year, $30MM contract with the A’s prior to the 2015 season – a move that paid very little in the way of dividends for Oakland. The longtime Royals DH struggled in both seasons he spent wearing green and gold, hitting a collective .258/.325/.394. While that production graded out as roughly average when factoring in the Athletics’ cavernous home park (99 OPS+), a league-average bat at the DH slot (and occasionally at first base) isn’t a positive outcome on a $10MM annual investment.
As Mike Axisa of River Avenue Blues points out (Twitter link), however, the Yankees started light-hitting backstop Austin Romine at designated hitter tonight against a left-handed pitcher. Butler could give the Yankees a solid, low-cost option against southpaws for the remainder of the season, and they’ll be facing no shortage of left-handed opponents; Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports notes that the Yanks are slated to face lefties in seven of their next 11 games (Twitter link).
That said, it should be noted that a large reason for the decline in performance from “Country Breakfast” is the fact that his numbers against lefties have plummeted in the past two seasons. Butler crushed lefties at a .314/.393/.519 clip from 2007-14 despite playing his home games at the pitcher-friendly Kauffman Stadium, but he’s managed only a woeful .226/.329/.358 line against lefties since signing in Oakland.
Few would’ve thought that the Yankees would be in this position at the non-waiver trade deadline when they parted ways with Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller and Carlos Beltran in order to acquire prospects, but New York currently sits just two games back from an American League Wild Card spot. However, they just lost a right-handed option earlier today with the news that Aaron Judge has been placed on the disabled list due to an oblique strain, thinning out the club’s right-handed options at the plate. Of course, if the Yankees are able to close the two-game gap that currently faces them, Butler would be ineligible to join the postseason roster, having been added to the organization after the Aug. 31 postseason eligibility deadline.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Marlins Designate Robert Andino For Assignment
The Marlins announced that they have designated infielder Robert Andino for assignment, which will clear a spot on the 40-man roster for right-hander Odrisamer Despaigne, who has been claimed off waivers from Baltimore.
Andino, 32, inked a minor league pact with the Marlins — the organization that originally drafted him in the second round back in 2002 — and had his contract selected to the Major League roster last month. Andino logged 24 plate appearances with Miami across 13 games, batting .292/.292/.292 (seven hits, all singles, no walks). That marked his first trip to the Majors since the 2013 season. Capable of playing second base, shortstop and third base, Andino is a lifetime .233/.294/.318 hitter in parts of 10 seasons between the Marlins, Orioles and Mariners. He hit .267/.319/.427 at the Triple-A level this season and has authored a .260/.306/.393 batting line in parts of eight seasons at that level.
Marlins Claim Odrisamer Despaigne From Orioles
The Marlins have claimed right-hander Odrisamer Despaigne off waivers from the Orioles, reports Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet (via Twitter). Baltimore designated the spot starter/long reliever for assignment last week and placed him on waivers on Tuesday.
Despaigne, 29, appeared in 16 games and totaled 27 1/3 innings for the Orioles this season after coming over from the Padres in an offseason trade. The Cuban-born righty initially signed with San Diego for a $1MM signing bonus and delivered a solid rookie campaign, posting a 3.36 ERA with 6.1 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 and a 52.1 percent ground-ball rate in 16 starts (96 1/3 innings). Since that time, though, it’s been a struggle for Despaigne at the big league level, as he logged a 5.80 ERA in 125 2/3 innings last season in addition to his 2016 struggles.
Despaigne doesn’t possess premium stuff but instead relies on a number of offerings, including a four-seam fastball, a cut fastball, a sinker, a slider, a curveball and a changeup, per PITCHf/x data available at Fangraphs. He did average a career-best 92.8 mph on his heater when working exclusively in relief this season, so perhaps additional exposure in that setting could yield better results. He’ll provide Miami with some rotation and bullpen depth over the final couple weeks of the season but won’t be postseason eligible in the event that Miami stages a comeback and secures a Wild Card spot.
With fewer than two years of big league service time, Despaigne won’t be eligible for arbitration following the season. As such, he’ll remain controllable through the 2021 campaign.
Phillies Acquire Joey Curletta To Complete Carlos Ruiz Trade
The Phillies announced today that they’ve acquired outfield prospect Joey Curletta from the Dodgers to complete last month’s Carlos Ruiz trade. The trade, then, will officially go in the books as Ruiz to the Dodgers in exchange for A.J. Ellis, Curletta and right-hander Tommy Bergjans.
Curletta, 22, was a sixth-round pick by the Dodgers out of Mountain Point High School in Phoenix, Ariz. back in 2012. He’s split the season between Class-A Advanced and Double-A for the second straight year, though his numbers in 2016 are superior to the ones he logged as a 21-year-old at those same levels in 2015. Curletta has batted .251/.323/.463 with 17 homers, 17 doubles and five triples in 409 plate appearances this season, though his 30 percent strikeout rate is indicative of the fact that there’s still plenty of room for growth in the right-handed hitter’s approach at the plate.
Curletta didn’t rank among the Dodgers’ top 30 prospects, though Baseball America has previously written that his two best tools are his raw power and his throwing arm. The 6’4″, 245-pounder has been described by BA as a “physical monster” in the past and has been limited to the corner outfield (primarily right field), where his strong arm profiles rather well.
J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group was the first to report that Curletta was headed to the Phils to complete the trade (Twitter link).
Minor MLB Transactions: 9/14/16
Here are today’s minor moves from around the league…
- The Royals announced that they’ve requested unconditional release waivers on outfielder Reymond Fuentes, who was designated for assignment six days ago. Fuentes, 25, made Kansas City’s Opening Day roster after Jarrod Dyson opened the year on the DL due to an oblique injury and batted .317/.364/.341 in 44 plate appearances. His work at the Triple-A level, though, left plenty to be desired, as he batted just .254/.325/.317 with no homers and 17 steals in 65 games. The former first-round pick (28th overall by the Red Sox in 2009) was a key piece of the trade that sent Adrian Gonzalez from San Diego to Boston (though Anthony Rizzo was the headliner) and does have a history of performing well in the upper levels of the minors prior to this season.
- The Orioles will select the contract of slick-fielding shortstop Paul Janish prior to tomorrow’s contest, reports Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. Baltimore will need to make a 40-man roster move in order to accommodate the 33-year-old Janish, who has batted .248/.333/.280 at the Triple-A level this season and a combined .242/.282/.303 in 71 PAs with the Orioles over the past two seasons.
Braves Acquire Josh Collmenter
5:31pm: David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets that Collmenter is actually more likely to help the Braves’ Major League roster and could even draw a start for the Braves on Saturday. With right-hander Williams Perez sidelined by an elbow impingement after a pair of rough starts earlier this month (via O’Brien on Twitter), it seems that Collmenter will be a depth piece at the big league level.
Collmenter entered the season with exactly five years of service time and won’t reach the requisite 172 days to move up to six years of MLB service time, so he can be controlled through the 2017 season via arbitration if the Braves wish.
5:23pm: The Braves announced that they’ve acquired right-hander Josh Collmenter from the Cubs in exchange for cash. The longtime D-backs hurler joins fellow righty Joe Wieland as the second pitcher picked up by the Braves today in exchange for cash.
The 30-year-old Collmenter was the Diamondbacks’ Opening Day starter as recently as 2015 but lost his rotation spot after a poor start to that season. Collmenter thrived in a bullpen role for his final 52 innings in 2015 and remained in the ‘pen to open the 2016 campaign. (The offseason additions of Zack Greinke and Shelby Miller and the return of Patrick Corbin from the disabled list all but closed the door on a return to the rotation.) In 22 1/3 innings of relief work this season, however, Collmenter labored to a 4.84 ERA and was ultimately released by the D-backs. He went on to ink a minor league pact with the Cubs and posted a 2.25 ERA across 16 Triple-A innings with his new organization, though his 9-to-8 K/BB ratio wasn’t especially encouraging.
Collmenter, like Wieland, will give Atlanta some pitching depth as the team’s Triple-A affiliate continues on in the playoffs. But, like Wieland, he’ll also be able to elect free agency at season’s end if he’s not added to the 40-man roster, so his time with the Braves organization could potentially be quite brief in nature.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Braves Acquire Joe Wieland From Mariners
The Braves have acquired right-hander Joe Wieland from the Mariners, reports ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (via Twitter). MLB.com’s Mark Bowman tweets that the Mariners will receive cash in return. The 26-year-old Wieland was outrighted off Seattle’s 40-man roster (for the second time this season) in late August, so he won’t immediately require a 40-man spot from the Braves.
Wieland once looked like a potential back-of-the-rotation option for the Padres, logging a 4.55 ERA across his first five MLB starts on the heels of some promising minor league work in 2011-12, but he underwent Tommy John surgery shortly thereafter and struggled with his recovery before being traded to the Dodgers as part of the Matt Kemp blockbuster. Seattle acquired him this past offseason in exchange for minor league infielder Erick Mejia, but Wieland’s struggles became more pronounced than ever early in his Seattle tenure, and the Mariners outrighted him to Triple-A in early May.
Wieland opened the season with a dreadful 17.31 ERA through his first 13 1/3 innings, prompting that initial outright, but he actually recovered after that unthinkably poor start. From May 4 through Aug. 6, Wieland posted a 3.67 ERA with an 83-to-23 K/BB ratio in 90 2/3 Triple-A innings before having his contract once again selected to the Major League roster. He made one start for the Mariners at the big league level, surrendering six runs in five innings, before being optioned back to Triple-A and eventually outrighted off the 40-man a second time.
Per Bowman’s tweet above, he’ll provide the Braves’ Triple-A roster with some additional rotation depth throughout the remainder of the postseason. While he could potentially serve as rotation depth for the big league team as well, Wieland has enough Major League service time to elect free agency at season’s end if he’s not on the 40-man roster. In 52 2/3 MLB innings, Wieland has a 6.32 ERA with 6.7 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 and a 40.6 percent ground-ball rate.