Brewers Acquire Ryan Cordell To Complete Jonathan Lucroy Trade
The Brewers announced on Monday that they have acquired minor league third baseman/outfielder Ryan Cordell from the Rangers as the player to be named later in the Jonathan Lucroy/Jeremy Jeffress deadline blockbuster. In total, then, the Brewers will acquire outfielder Lewis Brinson, right-hander Luis Ortiz and Cordell for the pair of Lucroy and Jeffress.
The 24-year-old Cordell is rated as the Rangers’ No. 6 prospect, per MLB.com’s Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo. Baseball America rated him as the team’s No. 9 prospect in their own midseason update (Brinson and Ortiz were ranked second and third, respectively, on that same list). Cordell has played exclusively in the outfield this season (seeing time at all three positions) but also has 300+ innings of experience at third base and saw some time at shortstop last season as well. He’s spent the entire year with Texas’ Double-A affiliate and batted .264/.319/.484 with 19 homers, 22 doubles, five triples and 12 stolen bases.
Baseball America noted in their write-up on him that he’s made strides in his plate discipline, chasing fewer out-of-zone pitches in his second trip through Double-A, and that bears out in his strikeout rate; Cordell walked in just 4.9 percent of his plate appearances in Double-A last season, compared to a woeful 30.2 percent strikeout rate. This year, however, he’s walked at a 7.1 percent clip and cut his strikeout rate to 21.8 percent. In MLB.com’s scouting report, Callis and Mayo write that Cordell has “some of the best all-around tools” in the Rangers minor league system and could eventually have average-or-better tools across the board. His best tool right now is his speed, but he also has the bat speed to hit for power as well.
MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy points out (via Twitter) that Cordell’s season ended this year due to an Aug. 2 knee injury, and Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel tweets that the injury was sustained when Cordell crashed into the outfield wall. However, the Brewers clearly aren’t overly concerned about the long-term implications of that collision and will count on a full season from Cordell in 2017. Given his production and experience at the Double-A level, it’s not far-fetched to think that Cordell could either open the season with Triple-A Colorado Springs or, at the very least, be promoted to that level early in the 2017 campaign.
Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News first reported that Cordell was the player to be named later (via Twitter).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Athletics Claim Donn Roach From Tigers
The Tigers announced this afternoon that right-hander Donn Roach, whom they had designated for assignment over the weekend, has been claimed off waivers by the Athletics.
Roach, 26, has a 5.77 ERA with 20 strikeouts against 18 walks in 39 career innings at the Major League level, but his massive ground-ball tendencies continue to intrigue teams enough to land on 40-man rosters. Roach posted a 3.03 ERA in his Triple-A run with the Tigers, fanning 21 batters against just five walks in 29 innings of work. He’s posted a gaudy 67.1 percent ground-ball rate in his big league career and has a 59 percent ground-ball rate in Triple-A this year. He’ll add some depth to the Athletics’ Triple-A team on the eve of the playoffs, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (via Twitter), who points out that recent promotions have depleted the Athletics’ Triple-A roster.
Roach has bounced all over the league in the past two years, spending time on the 40-man roster with the Padres, Cubs, Blue Jays, Reds, Mariners, Tigers and now Athletics.
Orioles Designate Odrisamer Despaigne For Assignment
The Orioles announced today that they’ve designated right-hander Odrisamer Despaigne for assignment in order to clear a spot on the roster for lefty reliever Brian Duensing, who has been activated from the 60-day disabled list.
[Related: Updated Baltimore Orioles Depth Chart]
The 29-year-old Despaigne was acquired in an offseason trade that sent Class-A righty Jean Cosme to the Padres. Despaigne totaled just 27 1/3 innings for the Orioles at the big league level, pitching to a 5.60 ERA with 5.6 K/9, 4.9 BB/9 and a 38.2 percent ground-ball rate. His work at the Triple-A level was considerably better, as the Cuban-born righty tossed 88 1/3 innings with 3.87 ERA, 7.1 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9. In total, Despaigne has a 4.84 ERA in 249 1/3 innings between the Orioles and Padres as a Major Leaguer.
Duensing, 33, hasn’t pitched since June 19 due to inflammation in his left elbow. The longtime Twin signed a minors pact with the O’s earlier this season and pitched just 6 2/3 innings before going down with his elbow ailment. Duensing will give manager Buck Showalter four lefties to choose from in his bullpen, as he’ll join brilliant closer Zach Britton, rookie Donnie Hart and Jayson Aquino in the relief corps. The former third-round pick carries a significant platoon split in his career, so he’s best deployed as a situational lefty. He’s held same-handed opponents to a .238/.289/.329 slash in 935 career plate appearances.
Minor MLB Transactions: 9/4/16
Here are Sunday’s minor moves from around baseball:
- Red Sox right-hander William Cuevas has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Pawtucket, Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal was among those to tweet. Cuevas, whom the Red Sox designated for assignment Friday, has thrown just five of his 136 innings this year in the majors. The 25-year-old has compiled a 4.19 ERA, 5.84 K/9 and 3.09 BB/9 in 131 frames with Pawtucket.
- Reds outfielder Kyle Waldrop has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Louisville, according to a club announcement. Cincinnati designated Waldrop for assignment Friday. Since the Reds picked him in the 12th round of the 2010 draft, Waldrop has collected only 26 major plate appearances. Nearly all of his time, including the majority of 2016, has been spent in the minors. The 24-year-old, who shares a name with a former Twins pitcher, has hit a less-than-stellar .254/.302/.365 in 351 plate appearances with Louisville this season.
Angels Claim Daniel Wright From Reds
The Angels have claimed right-hander Daniel Wright off waivers from the Reds, per a Cincinnati announcement. The Reds designated Wright for assignment earlier Sunday.
The 25-year-old Wright, whom the Reds chose in the 10th round of the 2013 draft, will now join his second organization. He made his major league debut this season with four appearances, two of which were starts, and pitched to a bloated 7.62 ERA in 13 innings, also posting 4.15 K/9 against 1.38 BB/9. Wright also had difficulty preventing runs this year with Triple-A Louisville, where he put up a 6.13 ERA across 83 2/3 frames. In 453 2/3 career minor league innings, Wright has logged a 4.44 ERA, 8.0 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9.
Padres Release Alexei Ramirez
The Padres have released shortstop Alexei Ramirez, according to AJ Cassavell of MLB.com (Twitter link). Cassavell reported Saturday that the Padres were unlikely to pick up their end of Ramirez’s $4MM mutual option for 2017 during the offseason. A day later, his time with the Padres has ended. He’ll collect what’s left of his $3MM salary for this season and a $1MM buyout for 2017.
After a subpar 2015 in his final campaign as a member of the White Sox, with whom he spent the first eight seasons of his career, the Padres bought low on Ramirez during the winter. However, he failed to live up to his modest deal. As a result of both Ramirez’s poor performance and the rebuilding Padres’ shift toward youth, the club began phasing the soon-to-be 35-year-old out at shortstop recently, instead turning to the likes of Jose Rondon and Luis Sardinas.
The right-handed Ramirez began working in right field as a way to stay in the Padres’ lineup against southpaws, but that wasn’t enough for him to remain with the team through season’s end. Ramirez batted a disappointing .240/.275/.331 in 440 plate appearances with the Padres and wasn’t any better in the field, where he’s currently last among 2016 shortstops in Defensive Runs Saved (minus-17) and Ultimate Zone Rating (minus-14.4). All told, he has been worth a league-worst minus-2.0 fWAR this year.
Before his decline began in earnest last season, Ramirez was a useful player for several years. The one-time All-Star batted a combined .275/.313/.395 with 78 home runs in 3,868 trips to the plate from 2009-14, also playing no fewer than 148 games in each season, adding 105 steals and totaling 18.5 fWAR.
Reds Designate Daniel Wright For Assignment
The Reds have designated right-hander Daniel Wright for assignment, per a club announcement. His roster spot will go to infielder/outfielder Hernan Iribarren, whose contract the Reds have selected from Triple-A Louisville.
Wright, 25, was the Reds’ 10th-round pick in 2013. He made his major league debut this season with four appearances, two of which were starts, and pitched to an unpalatable 7.62 ERA in 13 innings, also logging 4.15 K/9 against 1.38 BB/9. Wright wasn’t much better at preventing runs this year in Louisville, where he posted a 6.13 ERA across 83 2/3 frames. In 453 2/3 career minor league innings, Wright has recorded a 4.44 ERA, 8.0 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9.
Cardinals Designate Dean Anna For Assignment
The Cardinals have promoted catcher Carson Kelly to the majors, moved reliever Seth Maness to the 60-day disabled list (elbow) and designated shortstop Dean Anna for assignment, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Twitter link).
The 22-year-old Kelly joined the Cardinals organization as a second-round pick in 2012. Kelly was a third baseman until the end of the 2013 season, after which the Cardinals shifted him to catcher. From a defensive standpoint, the switch has gone well for Kelly, whom MLBPipeline.com ranks as the Redbirds’ 11th-best prospect and credits for his work behind the plate. Offensively, Kelly hit .287/.338/.403 in 236 Double-A plate appearances this year before advancing to Triple-A Memphis, where he batted .292/.352/.381.
Anna has been with St. Louis since signing a major league deal with the franchise in November 2014, but he has since made only one trip to the plate with the Cardinals. The 29-year-old has spent all of 2016 in Memphis, where he has hit .266/.344/.341 in 383 PAs. Anna owns a better line of .282/.375/.388 line in 1,740 Triple-A plate trips.
Minor MLB Transactions: 9/3/16
Here are today’s minor moves from around the league.
- The Nationals have outrighted outfielder Matt den Dekker to Triple-A Syracuse, the club announced. Washington designated den Dekker for assignment Friday. The 29-year-old has not fared well this season in either Syracuse or D.C., having hit .208/.290/.319 in 407 Triple-A plate appearances and .176/.282/.294 in 39 major league PAs. Den Dekker is only a year removed from providing useful depth at the big league level, though, as he batted .253/.315/.485 in 110 trips to the plate and saw time at all three outfield positions. The latter has once again been the case this season.
- The Diamondbacks have announced that they’ve selected the contract of 1B/OF Kyle Jensen from Triple-A Reno. The 28-year-old Jensen signed as a minor league free agent last winter and has had a strong season with Reno, batting .289/.350/.546 with 30 homers in 555 plate appearances. Jensen, who has previously played in the Marlins and Dodgers systems, has 178 home runs in eight career minor league seasons but has never appeared in the big leagues.
- The Orioles have announced that they’ve outrighted lefty Kyle Lobstein to Triple-A Norfolk. The O’s traded lefty Zach Phillips to the Pirates for Lobstein earlier this week after the Bucs designated Lobstein for assignment. The Orioles then quickly designated Lobstein themselves before he could make an appearance for them. The 27-year-old has a 5.06 ERA, 5.2 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in parts of three seasons with the Tigers and Pirates, during which he’s served as both a starter and reliever.
Angels Claim Ashur Tolliver From Orioles
The Orioles have announced that they’ve lost lefty Ashur Tolliver to the Angels on a waiver claim. The O’s designated Tolliver for assignment when they acquired Kyle Lobstein last week. (Lobstein, of course, has himself already been designated for assignment and outrighted.)
The 28-year-old Tolliver made his MLB debut this season, allowing four runs, three earned, in 4 2/3 innings of relief while throwing his fastball in the 93-94 MPH range. He fared well, however, in stops at three minor league affiliates, posting a 1.94 ERA, 9.9 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 in 41 2/3 total innings. The Angels currently have Jose Alvarez and Cody Ege as lefties available out of their bullpen; Tolliver will give them another left-handed option.