Giants, Chris Denorfia Agree To Minors Deal
The Giants and veteran outfielder Chris Denorfia are in agreement on a minor league contract, pending a physical, according to Baseball Essential’s Robert Murray (Twitter link). Denorfia is a client of Pro Star Management, Inc.
The 35-year-old Denorfia hasn’t suited up at the Major League or Minor League level this season, although he was in big league camp with the Yankees back in Spring Training before opting out of said deal on March 27.. Denorfia also appeared in 103 games with the Cubs last season, posting a .269/.319/.373 batting line with three homers in 231 trips to the plate. He has long graded out as a plus defender on the outfield corners and has plenty of experience in center field if he’s needed there in a pinch. He somewhat curiously struggled against left-handed pitching with the Cubs in 2015 — an oddity considering the fact that he’s a lifetime .285/.353/.419 hitter when holding the platoon advantage over a lefty.
The Giants currently have both Angel Pagan and Hunter Pence on the disabled list, and while Pagan may be nearing a return, Pence required surgery to repair a torn hamstring and is expected to be out for at least two months. As such, adding some veteran outfield depth to the mix is a logical course of action for San Francisco, who also agreed to a minor league pact with former Giant Travis Ishikawa yesterday.
Giants Sign Travis Ishikawa To Minor League Deal
The Giants are in agreement with first baseman/outfielder Travis Ishikawa on a minor league contract, as Damian Trujillo of NBC Bay Area first reported (on Twitter). Giants GM Bobby Evans confirmed the news to reporters last night, tweets Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area, citing a need for depth at the position and stating that Ishikawa will report to Triple-A Sacramento as soon as possible.
The 32-year-old Ishikawa broke into the Majors with the Giants back in 2006 and has become somewhat of a folk hero among the Giants faithful due to his Herculean performance in the 2014 NLCS against the Cardinals, which culminated in a walk-off three-run homer to send the Giants to their third World Series in five years. Ishikawa took home a pair of rings with San Francisco (2010, 2014) and will now re-join the organization that originally drafted him (21st round, 2002) for a third stint.
Ishikawa began the 2016 season on a minors pact with the White Sox but struggled with Chicago’s Triple-A affiliate, batting a mere .201/.277/.344 in 175 trips to the plate. The Sox cut him loose in late May, and he’ll now hope for better results and a return to the Majors with the Giants. The vast majority of Ishikawa’s Major League experience has come with San Francisco, but he’s also appeared with the Pirates, Brewers and, ever so briefly, with the Orioles (18 plate appearances) and Yankees (two PAs) as well. He’s a career .255/.321/.391 batter in 1050 Major League PAs and has also authored a .269/.355/.467 slash line in 1376 career plate appearances at the Triple-A level.
Brewers To Designate Neil Ramirez For Assignment
The Brewers announced tonight that they will activate right-hander Corey Knebel from the disabled list tomorrow and designate fellow righty reliever Neil Ramirez for assignment in order to clear a spot on the roster.
Ramirez, 27, was claimed off waivers from the division-rival Cubs just nine days ago and made only two appearances with the Brewers before his somewhat surprising DFA. The former No. 44 overall pick yielded two runs in 1 2/3 innings in his short time with Milwaukee, but as recently as 2014 he looked to be an emerging setup man with the Cubs. Ramirez was originally drafted by the Rangers out of high school in 2007, and he was included in the trade that sent right-hander Matt Garza (now with Milwaukee) from Chicago to the Rangers in 2013. He posted a 1.87 ERA with 68 strikeouts against 23 walks in 57 2/3 innings with the Cubs from 2014-15, though his 2015 campaign was derailed by right shoulder inflammation and an abdominal injury. Ramirez also dealt with triceps soreness back in 2014, and his fastball velocity is down more than two miles per hour since that strong 2014 debut.
While the injuries are clearly a cause for some concern, Ramirez’s former prospect pedigree and success in the 2014-15 season make him somewhat of an intriguing play for a team that can afford to take a chance on a controllable bullpen piece. It’s worth noting that the Braves, Reds, Padres and D-backs — each of whom had waiver priority over the Brewers when he was claimed on May 31 — passed on Ramirez last time he was placed on waivers, however, so it’s also certainly possible that he could slip through waivers a second time around if the Brewers elect to go that route rather than pursue a trade.
Wandy Rodriguez Opts Out Of Orioles Contract
Veteran left-hander Wandy Rodriguez has opted out of his minor league contract with the Orioles, as MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko writes. The 37-year-old had been building up strength at the team’s Spring Training facility in Sarasota, Fla., but MLB.com’s Britt Ghiroli tweets that the team simply didn’t feel it had a spot for him at the Major League level in the near future.
Rodriguez spent half the season with the Rangers in 2015, pitching quite well from April through June after winning the fifth spot in Texas’ injury-depleted rotation. The longtime Astros/Pirates hurler turned in a 3.20 ERA with a 50-to-23 K/BB ratio through his first 11 starts in the Texas rotation before melting down and surrendering 24 runs over his next 21 2/3 innings. Now that he’s built up some stamina with the Orioles in extended Spring Training, he could be ready to step directly into a minor league rotation or bullpen in the hopes of quickly working his way back to the Majors. In parts of 11 big league seasons, Rodriguez has pitched to a 4.10 ERA with 7.4 K/9 against 3.1 BB/9 in 1557 innings.
Mets Acquire Kelly Johnson
4:38pm: The Braves sent about $450K to the Mets in the trade as well, tweets the New York Post’s Ken Davidoff. That will help offset the remaining $1.268MM on Johnson’s 2016 contract. The Braves, then, are saving about $818K in the trade.
10:56am: The Mets have officially struck a deal to acquire utilityman Kelly Johnson from the Braves, as Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com first reported on Twitter. Minor league righty Akeel Morris heading back in return.
New York and Atlanta are division rivals, but that didn’t stop them from linking up last summer on a deal that brought Johnson and fellow veteran Juan Uribe to the Mets. Johnson returned to Atlanta after playing a limited but important role for the eventual National League champs, only to be sent north once again.
The contending Mets have seen some holes open up this year due to injuries. In particular, first baseman Lucas Duda, third baseman David Wright, and catcher Travis d’Arnaud are in various stages of lengthy absences, while outfielder Juan Lagares is limited by a thumb injury.
Johnson, 34, figures to provide a stopgap at any number of positions. Over 11 years with eight organizations, he’s lined up at second base, all four corner infield and outfield spots, and even shortstop (albeit only for one game). The left-handed-hitting Johnson looks like a particularly good fit at third base, where he could share time with Wilmer Flores, though it’s fair to note that Johnson has never carried much of a platoon split.
At his best, Johnson is a reasonably solid defender and an average or better hitter with some pop. The question is how much is left in the bat. Over 132 plate appearances this year, he’s slashed a meager .215/.273/.289 with a single home run. That’s a good ways off of his lifetime .250/.330/.420 slash and double-digit annual long ball output.
In Morris, the Braves are getting a 23-year-old reliever who has just a single MLB appearance under his belt. Heading into 2016, he had posted three straight seasons of sparkling results while steadily climbing the ladder. Over his first 25 1/3 innings this year, all coming at the Double-A level, Morris has surrendered 13 earned runs and issued 16 free passes — though he’s also allowed only 19 hits while racking up 36 strikeouts.
Jon Morosi of FOX Sports first reported that a trade between the teams was close (Twitter link).
Dodgers Release Alex Guerrero
The Dodgers announced that they have released infielder/outfielder Alex Guerrero, who was designated for assignment back on May 31.
The move brings to an end what will go down as a disappointing tenure for Guerrero, who signed a four-year, $28MM contract with the Dodgers back in 2013 on the heels of some impressive numbers in Cuba. Playing for los Lenadores de las Tunas, Guerrero compiled a lifetime .303/.386/.528 batting line across 2257 plate appearances in Cuba’s Serie Nacional. He’s delivered similarly impressive numbers in his brief minor league career, most notably slashing .323/.357/.598 in 266 PAs at the Triple-A level.
However, the 29-year-old Guerrero has struggled with big league pitching, hitting just .224/.251/.414 in 243 PAs, and he’s had even greater struggles on the defensive end of the game. Guerrero was primarily a shortstop while playing in Cuba, though he did see a couple hundred innings at second base as well. Even at the time of his signing, there was doubt as to whether he’d be able to handle shortstop in the Majors, and the Dodgers only gave him 47 innings at the position in the minors. He never saw action at shortstop in the Majors, spending the entirety of his time at third base and in left field while drawing mostly negative marks in the eyes of defensive metrics.
Guerrero didn’t see much in the way of regular at-bats with the Dodgers, and his time in the minors was even slowed somewhat by a bizarre incident in which teammate Miguel Olivo bit off a portion of his ear in a dugout altercation. A left knee injury prevented him from taking the field for the majority of the 2016 season, and he batted just .136/.162/.197 in 68 PAs during a recent minor league rehab assignment.
Guerrero will now be available to any club that wishes to take a chance on his production in Cuba and in Triple-A. The Dodgers are on the hook for the remainder of this season’s $5MM salary and the $5MM salary he’ll take home in 2016 as well, so he’d be available for the pro-rated portion of the league minimum.
Minor MLB Transactions: 6/8/16
We’ll keep track of the day’s minor moves here:
- The Indians announced that they’ve released righty Jarrett Grube. He had been pitching at Triple-A, but the team says it let him go to pursue another opportunity. (It’s unclear at present just what that might be, though it’s not uncommon for teams to allow players to leave to join ballclubs in Asia.) Grube, 34, has one MLB appearance on his ledger. He turned in a quality campaign for Cleveland’s top affiliate last year, posting a 2.69 ERA over 154 frames, but he’s fallen back in the earned run department in 2016 despite largely maintaining his strikeout-to-walk figures. Over 44 2/3 innings in seven starts and four relief appearances, Grube owns a 4.43 ERA with 7.5 K/9 against 2.0 BB/9.
Blue Jays Designate Matt Dominguez Off Active Roster
TODAY: Dominguez has cleared waivers and been optioned, so he’ll stay with Toronto, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link).
YESTERDAY, 2:34pm: Dominguez is only being designated off of the active roster so he can pass through optional assignment waivers, Nicholson-Smith clarifies on Twitter. That procedural step was required because he is three or more years removed from his major league debut. It’s a revocable waiver placement that is generally considered a formality, so Toronto does not appear at risk of losing Dominguez.
1:39pm: The Blue Jays have designated third baseman Matt Dominguez for assignment, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca tweets. His roster spot will go to switch-pitching reliever Pat Venditte.
Dominguez has seen only five games of action for Toronto in two brief stints, recording no hits in 12 plate appearances on the year. He does own a useful-enough .287/.333/.419 slash over 183 plate appearances at the Triple-A level, but clearly he was on the fringes of the Jays’ plans.
It’s not clear whether the 26-year-old will ever get another full crack at regular major league action, but he’s young and skilled enough for it to remain a possibility. Dominguez has a twenty home run MLB season under his belt and is capable of playing both corner infield spots.
Angels Acquire Jose Valdez, Designate Chris Jones
The Angels announced that they have acquired right-hander Jose Valdez from the Tigers in exchange for cash considerations. In order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Valdez, the Halos have designated left-hander Chris Jones for assignment.
Valdez, 26, has just nine innings of Major League experience, all coming last season with Detroit. However, he’s posted fairly intriguing numbers at the minor league level, including a 3.34 ERA in 67 1/3 innings at Triple-A and a 3.32 ERA in 276 2/3 innings overall. Control has been a persistent problem for Valdez, who has averaged 5.4 walks per nine innings throughout his minor league career. He’s also averaged more than a strikeout per inning, though his ability to miss bats has not yet manifested at the Triple-A level, where he has a 51-to-43 K/BB ratio in those 67 1/3 frames.
Entering the season, Baseball America rated Valdez as Detroit’s No. 23 prospect, praising his “high-octane stuff” and calling both his fastball and slider plus pitches. However, BA also noted that Valdez’s struggles with control often leave him pitching behind in the count.
As for Jones, the 27-year-old was in his first season with the Angels organization, having been acquired in a minor trade late in Spring Training. Previously, Jones spent parts of nine seasons in the minor league systems of the Indians, Braves and Orioles. The former 15th-round pick entered the season with a 3.12 ERA in 340 1/3 innings of Triple-A work, but he’s been rocked for a 7.33 ERA in 50 1/3 innings this season. All told, he has a 3.66 ERA in 390 2/3 innings at Triple-A and a 3.62 ERA in 754 1/3 total minor league frames.
White Sox Designate Jerry Sands For Assignment
The White Sox have designated first baseman/outfielder Jerry Sands for assignment, per a club announcement. The DFA of Sands clears a spot on the 25-man roster for James Shields to be officially added. Beyond that, the Sox have also optioned outfielder Jason Coats to Triple-A Charlotte and reinstated Melky Cabrera from the family emergency leave list.
Sands, 28, has batted .236/.276/.291 through 58 plate appearances with the ChiSox this season and has struggled versus left-handed pitching despite a strong track record when holding the platoon advantage. The right-handed slugger owns a lifetime .285/.335/.477 line against southpaws but has just a .522 OPS this season, albeit in a limited sample of 20 plate appearances. With the exception of the 2013 season, Sands has spent time in the Majors each year dating back to 2011. He’s a career .238/.306/.367 hitter in 464 trips to the plate at the Major League level and has been a thorn in the side of Triple-A pitchers, against whom he’s mashed at a .268/.357/.492 clip over the life of 439 games.
Sands is no stranger to DFA limbo, as this is the fourth time he’s been designated for assignment since the beginning of the 2015 season. (Cleveland designated him on three occasions before he was ultimately claimed off waivers by the Sox.) Chicago will have 10 days to trade, outright or release Sands, though even if he clears outright waivers, he’d have the option of rejecting the assignment in favor of free agency, as is the right of any player that has been previously outrighted.