Marlins Designate Jo-Jo Reyes
The Marlins have designated lefty Jo-Jo Reyes for assignment, per a club announcement. Miami also optioned righty Brian Ellington to Triple-A, with those moves designed to clear the way for the promotion of southpaw Justin Nicolino.
[Related: Updated Marlins Depth Chart]
Reyes, 31, has made just two major league appearances since the end of the 2011 campaign, including a single showing this year for Miami. After working as a starter for the vast majority of his career, he has spent most of the 2016 season throwing from the pen at Triple-A. On the year, he owns a 4.17 ERA with 6.6 K/9 against 2.7 BB/9.
The 24-year-old Nicolino will get another shot at holding down a big league job after posting a disappointing 5.17 ERA in his first ten starts this year. Nicolino struck out just 4.4 batters per nine, though that was an improvement on his meager output in that department in 2015. He has been effective at Triple-A, though, with a 2.82 ERA and 5.2 K/9 against 1.6 K/9 over 38 1/3 frames.
Twins Option Byung Ho Park To Triple-A
The Twins announced today that they’ve optioned first baseman/designated hitter Byung Ho Park to Triple-A Rochester and replaced him on the roster with Miguel Sano, who has been activated from the disabled list. The decision to option Park, in whom Minnesota invested a total of $24.85MM this offseason (between the posting fee and his four-year contract) is the latest in a season-long series of disappointments for the Twins, although it certainly doesn’t indicate that the investment will ultimately prove to be an error.
[Related: Updated Minnesota Twins depth chart]
Park, 29, was the most prolific power hitter in the Korea Baseball Organization over the past two seasons, prompting the Twins to make a surprise bid of $12.85MM to secure negotiation rights with him, which yielded a four-year, $12MM contract plus a fifth-year option. The slugger struggled out of the gates in Minnesota but found his stride after a couple of weeks. As recently as May 15, Park was hitting a robust .257/.342/.581, having clubbed nine homers, five doubles and a triple through his first 120 big league plate appearances. In 124 plate appearances since that time, however, Park is hitting just .127/.210/.245 with three homers and four doubles. More concerning is the fact that he’s struck out at least once in 26 of the 31 games he’s started over that span. On the whole, Park has punched out at an alarming 32.8 percent clip this season.
An adjustment period was always expected for Park, and unlike countrymen Jung Ho Kang and Hyun Soo Kim, he was thrown right into the everyday lineup with his first big league team. It’s impossible to tell whether a more gradual introduction into the lineup would’ve proved beneficial — Kim, after all, has just 141 PAs on the season, making it rather early to deem him a true success — but Park has looked overmatched at the plate recently.
Park has proven his power to be very real; his average of 420 feet per home run (via Statcast data at Baseball Savant) rates 10th in the Majors, and he’s registered a .219 isolated power mark (slugging minus average). However, his difficulties in making contact have offset his power contributions and slightly above-average walk rate (8.6 percent). The hope for the Twins, presumably, is that Park can continue to adjust to increased velocity and improve his contact skills down at Rochester so that he can better utilize that pop over the remaining three (possibly four) years of his contract.
Park is earning $2.75MM this season and has annual salaries of $2.75MM (2017), $3MM (2018) and $3MM (2019) yet to come, plus at least a $500K buyout of a $6.5MM club option for the 2020 season. Given the fairly minimal nature of the Twins’ investment in him, he still has plenty of time to make their commitment look to be a shrewd move overall.
As for Sano, he’ll return to the Twins after missing the month of June with a hamstring injury. The 23-year-old slugger has struggled to some extent in his own right, as he’s yet to live up to the expectations that came with last season’s .269/.385/.530 debut (with 18 homers in just 80 games played). Sano is hitting .235/.341/.458 with 11 homers in 50 games and has had a difficult time with his transition to the outfield, where both UZR and DRS peg the 6’4″, 260-pounder as below average. The bulk of Sano’s experience as a pro has come at third base, but that spot remains occupied by Trevor Plouffe.
Giants To Designate Jake Smith, Select Grant Green
The Giants will designate righty Jake Smith for assignment, Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area reports on Twitter. The team needed to clear a 40-man spot to make way for infielder Grant Green, who has been promoted.
[Related: Updated Giants Depth Chart]
Smith, 28, has made a u-turn after his stellar 2015 campaign. Over 84 1/3 frames last year at High-A, he allowed just 2.35 earned runs per nine with 12.6 K/9 against only 2.2 BB/9. While the strikeouts are still there through his first 20 1/3 innings at the Double-A level, Smith has walked nearly as many batters as he has K’ed and currently sports a 7.08 ERA.
The 28-year-old Green will now suit up with his third major league club from California after previously seeing action with the Athletics and Angels. He has not managed to hit enough at the MLB level over his first 300 trips to the plate to make up for a suspect glove, and joined San Francisco as a minor league free agent. Green owns a .294/.321/.437 batting line over 250 plate appearances this year with the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate.
Athletics Sign 6th Overall Draft Pick A.J. Puk
The Athletics have signed lefty A.J. Puk, their top pick from the recent amateur draft, the club announced. Puk was taken with the sixth overall selection, which came with a $4,069,200 pool allocation. He’ll receive exactly that amount with his bonus, per MLB.com’s Jim Callis (via Twitter).
Puk pitched at the University of Florida, where he showed immense talent but also some inconsistency. Still, he drew real consideration with the first overall pick, and was a consensus top-five talent heading into the festivities.
Baseball America ranked Puk as the very best draft talent available on its board, citing his large frame, high-velo fastball, and promising slider and change-up. Despite Puk’s 6’7 height, BA gives him good marks for his ability to work in the zone and locate his heater.
Other outlets were only slightly lower on the big southpaw. MLB.com and ESPN.com each listed him at fourth among draft-eligible prospects. Despite the evident tools, Puk hasn’t been quite as consistently dominant as one might hope. And the secondary offerings aren’t fully functional at present.
Still, it’s all nit-picking at this level of player, and all agree that Puk has immense potential. It was a bit of a surprise that he slid to Oakland, but the A’s were glad to add a player who could be one of the first from the top of the draft to have an impact at the major league level.
Dodgers Designate Ian Thomas For Assignment
The Dodgers announced today that they’ve designated left-hander Ian Thomas for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for right-hander Bud Norris, who was acquired from Atlanta in exchange for a pair of minor league pitchers.
Thomas, 29, actually came to the Dodgers by way of trade with the Braves last summer. He was traded from Atlanta to L.A. alongside Alberto Callaspo, Juan Jaime and Eric Stults in exchange for Juan Uribe and Chris Withrow. He spent 23 1/3 innings between the Braves and Dodgers in the Major Leagues last season and posted a 3.86 ERA with 23 strikeouts against 11 walks. Thomas posted strong numbers early this season for the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate — 1.42 ERA, 22-to-5 K/BB ratio in 19 innings — but has been on the minor league disabled list since mid-May due to tendinitis in his left shoulder.
Dodgers Acquire Bud Norris
The Dodgers on Thursday officially acquired right-hander Bud Norris, minor league outfielder Dian Toscano, a player to be named later and cash considerations from the Braves in exchange for minor league right-hander Caleb Dirks and minor league lefty Phil Pfeifer. Norris should step right into an injury-plagued rotation that saw Clayton Kershaw hit the disabled list with a back injury earlier today. Norris last pitched on June 26, so he could start in place of Kershaw tomorrow.
[Related: Updated Los Angeles Dodgers depth chart]
Norris, 31, began the season in the Atlanta rotation and pitched dreadfully throughout the month of April, logging an ERA just under 9.00 and losing his spot in the rotation. However, Norris made some alterations while working out of the bullpen and forced his way back into the Atlanta rotation, and he’s been a revelation since. As Fangraphs’ Jeff Sullivan recently examined, Norris ditched an ineffective changeup for a cutter that has been scintillating since its adoption, and the results have been stunning. In 29 1/3 innings since rejoining the rotation, Norris has pitched to a 2.15 ERA with a 29-to-8 K/BB ratio and an enormous 59.2 percent ground-ball rate. Overall, since losing his rotation spot in late April, Norris holds a 2.08 ERA in 47 1/3 innings.
While finances are rarely of concern for the Dodgers, they’re particularly negligible in the case of Norris, who inked a one-year, $2.5MM contract with Atlanta this offseason. Of that sum, Norris is still owed about $1.3MM through the end of the season. Toscano, meanwhile, is owed $1.3MM in 2016, $1.5MM in 2017 and $1.5MM in 2018 plus a $200K buyout of a $1.7MM option for the 2019 season. The outfielder, signed out of Cuba a couple of years ago, had already been removed from the Braves’ 40-man roster, so presumably the Dodgers have agreed to take on some of that salary in order to entice the Braves to part with Norris and the PTBNL.
The Dodgers essentially have an entire rotation on the disabled list, as Kershaw is joined there by Alex Wood, Brett Anderson, Brandon McCarthy and Hyun-jin Ryu. Norris will join healthy starters Scott Kazmir, Kenta Maeda, Julio Urias and Brock Stewart in the L.A. rotation, though that group figures to be thinned once again when Urias is shut down for a time following the All-Star break. Then again, the Dodgers’ hope is that Kershaw can return following the Midsummer Classic, so in a best-case scenario they’ll swap Kershaw out for Urias following the break.
Dirks, 23, was a 15th-round pick by the Braves back in 2014 but was traded to the Dodgers last summer for international slot money. He currently ranks 30th among their prospects in the eyes of MLB.com’s Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo and will now return to the organization that originally selected him out of the draft. Dirks has a 1.44 ERA and a stellar 35-to-7 K/BB ratio through 31 1/3 innings out of the ‘pen for the Dodgers’ Double-A affiliate in Tulsa this season. Callis and Mayo write that Dirks has a fastball with good sink that sits in the low 90s and tops out around 94 mph as well as a slider in the low 80s that grades out as an average pitch. The MLB.com duo notes that the Dodgers “love” Dirks’ competitive streak and ability to handle high leverage situations, adding that he could be a setup man in the Majors if everything clicks.
Pfeifer, also 23, was Los Angeles’ third-round pick just last season. He’s split the year between Class-A and Class-A Advanced, where he’s worked to a 2.67 ERA with 42 strikeouts against 18 walks in 30 1/3 innings out of the bullpen.
The Braves signed Toscano, now 27, out of Cuba prior to the 2015 season. Visa issues significantly delayed his arrival to the Braves’ organization even after his signing, and he was outrighted off the 40-man roster last year. Toscano was once looked at as having the upside of a fourth outfielder, but he’s batted just .226/.310/.271 in 203 plate appearances for Atlanta’s Double-A affiliate this season.
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported that Norris was going to Los Angeles (via Twitter). Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported that Dirks and Pfeifer were in the deal (via Twitter).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Braves, Omar Infante Agree To Minor League Deal
The Braves have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran infielder Omar Infante, tweets Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. Infante was released by the Royals after being designated for assignment earlier this month.
Infante inked a four-year, $30.25MM contract with Kansas City prior to the 2014 season and on the heels of a solid run with the Marlins and Tigers from 2011-13. Infante slashed .288/.318/.414 in the three years leading up to his free agency and also contributed solid defense at second base, prompting the Royals to offer a substantial contract. However, in parts of three seasons with Kansas City, Infante batted a woeful .238/.269/.328 in 1179 plate appearances.
This will mark Infante’s second tenure with Atlanta. He spent 2008-10 seasons with the Braves after being traded from the Cubs (for whom he never actually played a game). Infante enjoyed a successful run with the Braves and even flirted with a batting title in 2010 before he was traded to Miami in the Dan Uggla deal and then back to Detroit in the Anibal Sanchez swap. In parts of 15 big league seasons, the 34-year-old Infante is a .271/.308/.387 hitter.
Nationals, Mat Latos Agree To Minor League Deal
6:50pm: Latos will have multiple opportunities to opt out of the deal over the coming months, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets.
3:04pm: Free agent right-hander Mat Latos tells Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago/670 The Score that he’s inked a minor league contract with the Nationals, pending a physical (Twitter link). He’ll report to the minors for now if the physical checks out.
Latos, 28, opened the season with the White Sox and posted a pristine 0.74 ERA through his first 24 innings on the South Side of Chicago, but things quickly went awry. That ERA came despite a 13-to-7 K/BB ratio and was largely propped up by a .167 average on balls in play and 97 percent strand rate. Latos seemed like a regression candidate, but the extent of his regression likely included some poor luck — particularly in the home run department. Over his next seven starts, Latos pitched to a 7.25 ERA with a 19-to-18 K/BB ratio in 36 innings. He was tagged for an alarming nine home runs in that time and ultimately carried a 4.64 ERA at the time of his DFA and release from Chicago.
Latos has been beset by knee injuries in recent seasons, and the result seems to be greatly diminished velocity. His heater sat near 94 mph when he first came up and settled into the 92.5 mph average range from 2011-13, but he’s averaged just about 90 mph over the past two seasons while working as a starter. That has almost certainly contributed to a vastly diminished marks in terms of swinging-strike rate and strikeout rate.
When at his best from 2010-14, Latos could be relied upon for an ERA in the low 3.00s with above-average strikeout rates and very solid control. However, he’s struggled greatly in each of the past two seasons now and hasn’t given much of an indication that his missing velocity is returning or that he’s learning to succeed with a lesser fastball. He’ll hope to do so for a Nationals organization that recently saw Stephen Strasburg land on the disabled list with an upper back strain. However, with the number of rotation options in D.C. — Lucas Giolito has entered the rotation in place of Strasburg, and the Nats also have Austin Voth and A.J. Cole as options at the Triple-A level — perhaps his best path back to the bigs with the Nationals would come via the bullpen. That’s speculative on my behalf, though Latos did make three appearances out of the bullpen between the Dodgers and Angels late in the 2015 season.
Giants Select Ruben Tejada, Place Joe Panik On Concussion DL
The Giants have selected the contract of infielder Ruben Tejada, as Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area first tweeted. To create roster space, the club placed second baseman Joe Panik on the 7-day concussion DL and put Chris Heston on the 60-day DL.
[Related: Updated Giants Depth Chart]
Tejada joined the Giants on a minor league deal after opening the season with the Cardinals. (First, of course, he was cut loose by the Mets just before the season began.) The 26-year-old hasn’t shown much at the plate this year, and is typically a slightly-below-average hitter, but the club is obviously in need of dependable infielders given its injury situation.
The loss of Panik comes at an inopportune time, as third baseman Matt Duffy is already on the DL — along with utilitymen Kelby Tomlinson and Ehire Adrianza. Panik had been plunked recently, but the effects of the beaning only took hold a few days later.
It still seems that the Giants can expect most of these players back in relatively short order, but the uncertainty could increase the club’s apparent interest in adding another infield piece. San Francisco has been tied to players such as Yunel Escobar (link) and Yulieski Gurriel (link) in recent weeks, though we’ve heard even more chatter about the possibility that the club could pitching or outfield help.
Rangers Claim Eric Surkamp Off Waivers
The Rangers announced today that they’ve claimed left-hander Eric Surkamp off waivers from the division-rival Athletics. To clear room for Surkamp on the 40-man roster, Texas has transferred Drew Stubbs from the 15-day DL to the 60-day DL. Surkamp has been optioned to Triple-A Round Rock.
In Surkamp, the Rangers will acquire some depth for an injury-ravaged rotation. Texas currently has Yu Darvish, Derek Holland and Colby Lewis on the disabled list, with Lewis in particular facing a lengthy absence (two months). The 28-year-old Surkamp made nine starts for Oakland this season but struggled for much of the year and ultimately recorded a 6.98 ERA over 38 2/3 innings. However, he’s posted a strong 3.07 ERA with 10.4 K/9 against 3.1 BB/9 through five Triple-A starts this season and has long shown the ability to succeed at the top minor league level. In 293 1/3 frames in his career at Triple-A, Surkamp has a 3.56 ERA and a strong 274-to-82 K/BB ratio. The Rangers will hope that he’s able to tap into some of that success if he’s needed at the big league level, and if not, he’ll serve as a useful rotation piece for a Triple-A rotation that is currently depleted due to injuries in the Majors.