Braves Designate Brandon Snyder For Assignment
The Braves have designated infielder/outfielder Brandon Snyder for assignment, reports David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter link). Right-hander Madison Younginer will come up from Triple-A Gwinnett to take Snyder’s place on the Braves’ roster.
Snyder, 29, garnered 34 plate appearances for the Braves prior to Sunday and hit .182/.206/.515 with two home runs. He previously saw action with the Orioles, who selected him 13th overall in the 2005 draft, Rangers and Red Sox. Snyder has collected 192 big league PAs and slashed .232/.272/.420 with seven long balls. Across 12 minor league seasons and 3,902 PAs, he owns a .273/.336/.436 line.
Padres Designate Matt Thornton For Assignment
The Padres have designated lefty Matt Thornton for assignment, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets. The move clears space for new addition Clayton Richard.
[Related: San Diego Padres Depth Chart]
The 39-year-old Thornton signed a minor league deal with the Padres last offseason. He missed most of the first two months of the year with Achilles tendinitis, then struggled in 17 innings with San Diego, posting a 5.82 ERA, 4.8 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9. His velocity has dropped from the mid- to high 90s as a member of the White Sox several years ago to 91.4 MPH this year, likely a key factor to his steadily declining strikeout rate over the past few seasons. He has a 3.41 ERA, 8.7 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in parts of 13 years in the big leagues.
Phillies Designate Brett Oberholtzer, Release Andrew Bailey
The Phillies have announced that they’ve designated lefty Brett Oberholtzer for assignment, a move that clears roster space for top prospect Jake Thompson, who will start today. The team also announced that it has requested release waivers on righty Andrew Bailey, who was designated for assignment earlier this week.
[Related: Philadelphia Phillies Depth Chart]
The Phillies acquired the 27-year-old Oberholtzer last offseason when they sent Ken Giles to Houston. Oberholtzer has spent the season pitching in a long-relief role in Philadelphia, posting a 4.83 ERA, 6.8 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in 50 1/3 innings. He doesn’t have great velocity or an outstanding breaking pitch, so his upside appears to be limited, even though he’s left-handed and is capable of starting or relieving. He has a 4.09 ERA, 6.0 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 in parts of four big-league seasons.
Bailey’s 2016 season has been his first full, healthy campaign in years, but it hasn’t gone well, as he posted a 6.40 ERA, 9.2 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9 in 32 1/3 innings. The 32-year-old former Athletics closer has pitched parts of seven big-league seasons, spending time with the Red Sox and Yankees in addition to the A’s and Phillies.
Mariners Acquire Pat Venditte From Blue Jays
The Mariners have announced that they’ve acquired switch-pitcher Pat Venditte from the Blue Jays for a player to be named. To clear space for him, they’ve designated righty Donn Roach for assignment. Venditte has been assigned to Triple-A Tacoma.
The 31-year-old Venditte had appeared in eight games with the Jays this season. He’d spent the bulk of the year with Triple-A Buffalo, where he posted a 4.37 ERA and 3.3 BB/9, but with a very high 13.4 K/9. He has a 4.58 ERA, 7.2 K/9 and 3.9 BB/9 in 37 1/3 career big-league innings, suggesting his highly unusual ability to pitch with either hand is more than a curiosity. He has, however, been much better as a left-handed pitcher in his brief big-league career, and that trend also existed in the minors this year. The trade for Venditte was the Mariners’ second acquisition of a reliever today, with the first being their trade for Arquimedes Caminero of the Pirates. Whereas that move seemed designed to immediately improve the big-league roster, though, it appears they’ll use Venditte primarily as depth for now.
The 26-year-old Roach has appeared in four games with Seattle in 2016, but he’s spent most of the year with Tacoma, posting a 4.75 ERA, 5.2 K/9 and 1.6 BB/9 while pitching 108 innings, mostly as a starter. He has a career 5.77 ERA, 4.6 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9 in parts of three seasons in the big leagues, during which he’s also appeared with the Padres and Cubs.
Marlins Acquire Hunter Cervenka From Braves
The Marlins have acquired lefty reliever Hunter Cervenka from the Braves, Fan Rag’s Tommy Stokke tweets. The Marlins have announced that they’ve sent minor league infielder Anfernee Seymour and lefty Michael Mader to Atlanta.
The 26-year-old Cervenka slowly made his way through the Red Sox and Cubs systems after Boston drafted him in the 27th round in 2008. He briefly wound up in independent ball after being released by the Cubs last season, then signed a minor league deal with the Braves in the middle of the 2015 season. He made his big-league debut this season and has gotten good results in the big leagues despite a very high 6.1 BB/9, with a 3.18 ERA and 9.3 K/9 in 34 innings. He has solid velocity for a lefty, with a fastball that averages around 93 MPH, and a good slider that has helped him hold opposing lefties to just .143/.264/.242.
Cervenka should give the Marlins’ bullpen a second lefty to complement Mike Dunn. Marlins relievers have been slightly below average against southpaws this season, allowing them to hit .250/.342/.383.
The 21-year-old Seymour was the Marlins’ seventh-round pick in 2014. He was hitting just .252/.293/.306 while playing shortstop for Class A Greensboro. MLB.com rated him the eighth-best prospect in a weak Marlins system, noting his excellent speed — he has 36 steals this year.
The Marlins picked Mader in the third round in 2014, and after struggling to strike batters out last year at Greensboro, the 22-year-old has taken a modest step forward this season at Class A+ Jupiter, with a 3.50 ERA, 7.1 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 in 103 innings in the rotation. MLB.com ranked him the Marlins’ 24th-best prospect, reporting that he throws his fastball in the low 90s and also has a changeup and an inconsistent but potentially decent curveball.
Mariners Acquire Arquimedes Caminero From Pirates
The Mariners have announced that they’ve acquired righty reliever Arquimedes Caminero from the Pirates for a player to be named later and a conditional player to be named later. To clear roster space, they’ve designated righty Blake Parker for assignment.
The Mariners claimed Caminero before working out a deal, as MLB.com’s Greg Johns writes. The 29-year-old Caminero is one of baseball’s hardest throwers — his average fastball velocity this season has been 97.7 MPH, and he routinely touches triple digits. He does, however, struggle with his control, which might explain why most teams passed on him as a waiver claim despite his fastball and near-league-minimum salary. After a relatively successful 2015 season in which he posted a 3.62 ERA, 8.8 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9, Caminero has posted a 3.51 ERA but with just 7.0 K/9 and a very high 4.8 BB/9 this year (although he has fared much better since returning from a DL stint in June).
The Mariners (who recently promised they would be active on the August trade market) will become the latest team to try to turn Caminero’s electric arm into a high-performing one. The Pirates, meanwhile, will move on to other relief options in a new-look bullpen that also recently added Antonio Bastardo and swapped Mark Melancon for young former Nationals lefty Felipe Rivero. MLB.com’s Adam Berry suggests (via Twitter) that Caminero’s departure could clear space in the bullpen for Jeff Locke, who could be bumped from the rotation in favor of a younger option like Chad Kuhl, Steven Brault or Tyler Glasnow.
The 31-year-old Parker signed with the Mariners as a minor league free agent last winter and has spent most of the year with Triple-A Tacoma, where he posted a 2.72 ERA with an excellent 12.7 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9. The Mariners added him to their roster this week, and he pitched in just one game for them before being designated.
Padres To Sign Clayton Richard
The Padres have agreed to a deal that will bring back southpaw Clayton Richard, according to Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune. It is not yet clear whether it is a major league or minor league pact.
Richard, 32, previously spent five campaigns in San Diego. He’ll return there after washing out this season with the Cubs, who had tendered him a contract and agreed to a $2MM deal over the winter.
Though he dealt with injuries at times, Richard was generally a quality starter for the Pads, particularly over the 2010-12 campaigns. In that three-year, run, he carried a 3.88 ERA with 5.4 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 over 520 frames.
After a rough 2013 campaign, Richard ended up missing all of 2014 after undergoing surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome. He showed well in Triple-A for the Pirates last year and ended up being dealt right onto the Cubs’ active roster, ultimately contributing 42 1/3 innings of 3.88 ERA ball — mostly out of the pen.
That led to Chicago’s decision to give Richard a spot in this year’s pen. But he never managed to get on track, even when deployed sparingly. The southpaw finished only 14 frames in 25 appearances, coughing up ten earned runs and as many walks as strikeouts (seven apiece).
Cubs Designate Joe Nathan, Activate Jorge Soler
The Cubs have designated righty Joe Nathan for assignment, per ESPNChicago.com’s Jesse Rogers (via Twitter). His roster spot will go to outfielder Jorge Soler, who was activated after a long DL stint.
[Related: Updated Cubs Depth Chart]
Nathan, 41, had only just returned to the majors after a long road back from Tommy John surgery at an advanced age. He signed a major league deal with Chicago during the season, finishing his rehab and then making three scoreless appearances, posting four strikeouts against two hits and two walks in two innings. Nathan has checked in with an average 91.5 mph four-seamer, which is just about where he sat in his last full season (2014).
The veteran has long been a late-inning presence, most recently as the Tigers’ closer. He owns a 2.88 career ERA over 919 innings, with 9.2 K/9 against 4.1 BB/9 in his lengthy run at the major league level. When Nathan blew out his ulnar collateral ligament early last year, it seemed like the end. But he has made it all the way back, and certainly seems worthy of another big league opportunity in Chicago or elsewhere.
As for Soler, today’s move marks the first time he has suited up in the majors since June 6th, when he suffered a hamstring injury. The 24-year-old is a heralded talent who has shown promise at times in the majors, but he’ll need to improve upon the .223/.322/.377 batting line he carried over his first fifty games of the season.
There have been some positives thus far for Soler. In particular, he increased his walk rate to 11.2% while driving down his strikeout rate to 23.7%, both of which are marked improvements over 2015. And his .264 BABIP provides cause to anticipate regression (though it is driven by an increasingly flyball-heavy batted ball mix). Still though, Soler has just five long balls and a .154 ISO, falling well shy of the big power numbers he carried in the upper minors and first taste of MLB action back in 2014.
Nate Schierholtz Receives 80-Game PED Suspension
Free agent outfielder Nate Schierholtz has received an eighty-game suspension after testing positive for a banned performance-enhancing drug, the league announced today. He’ll serve the suspension if and when he joins a new organization.
Schierholtz, 32, spent the early portion of the season at Triple-A with the Tigers but was release in late May. He carried only a .246/.280/.356 batting line over 125 plate appearances at the point of his release, and he hasn’t found another organization since.
An eight-year major league veteran, Schierholtz hasn’t seen the big leagues since 2014, when he spent most of the year with the Cubs before a brief stint with the Nationals. He also made a quick stop with the Phillies, who acquired him from the Giants midway through his sixth year in San Francisco.
Over 2,275 career MLB plate appearances, Schierholtz owns a .253/.302/.405 batting line with 52 home runs. He also spent the 2015 season playing in Japan for the Hiroshima Carp, an experience that he shared this spring with MLBTR’s Zach Links
Red Sox Claim Bryan Holaday From Rangers
The Red Sox have claimed catcher Bryan Holaday off outright waivers from the Rangers, reports Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald (Twitter link). Texas designated Holaday for assignment on Monday in the wake of its acquisition of Jonathan Lucroy and Jeremy Jeffress from the Brewers.
Holaday, 28, was acquired by Texas from the Tigers late in Spring Training and saw significant action early in the season following an injury to backstop Robinson Chirinos. Holaday was quite productive in the month of May but hasn’t hit much outside of that stretch and has a collective .238/.290/.405 slash in 94 plate appearances with Texas this season. Prior to the 2016 campaign, he’d spent his entire career in the Tigers organization, shuffling back and forth between the Majors and minors while serving as a backup to Alex Avila. The presence of James McCann and Detroit’s offseason pickup of Jarrod Saltalamacchia left Holaday without a spot on the big league roster, however, and he’s out of minor league options, which left Detroit with no way to carry him in the Majors.
That he’s out of options means he’ll have to go directly onto the 25-man roster for Boston as well, as Holaday cannot be sent to the minors without first clearing waivers. He’s a career .248/.285/.356 hitter with five homers in 376 plate appearances. Holaday has thrown out 30.2 of attempted base thieves over the past three seasons, though he rates as a well below-average framing catcher, per Baseball Prospectus.