Tigers Sign Neftali Feliz
The Tigers have officially announced that they’ve signed Feliz, according to MLive.com’s Chris Iott. Feliz will join the team later today. The Tigers have optioned righty Jeff Ferrell to the minors, Iott tweets. MLB legend Pedro Martinez reported on MLB Network last night that the Tigers would sign Feliz. Feliz is a client of California Sports Management.
The 27-year-old Feliz posted a 4.58 ERA, 7.3 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 in 19 2/3 innings with the Rangers before they designated him for assignment last week. Feliz then cleared waivers and opted to become a free agent.
It’s no surprise that Feliz signed quickly. He’s still young and has a track record as a closer, having saved 93 games in his career. He also still throws in the mid-90s (although his velocity is lower now than it was several years ago) and was very effective as recently as last season. It’s been awhile since he’s had strong peripherals, however — he struck out 11.3 batters per nine innings as a rookie in 2009, but his strikeout rate has declined significantly since then, and his walk rate has crept up a bit as well as he’s struggled with injuries over the years. If Feliz does return to his early-career form down the stretch, however, the Tigers will be able to take him through the arbitration process and control him for the 2016 season.
Joakim Soria is having a good season as the Tigers’ closer, and Feliz seems unlikely to supplant him in that role. The Tigers’ bullpen ERA of 4.04 ranks sixth worst in the Majors, though, so it seems reasonable that Detroit would want to take a chance on Feliz. The Tigers recently remade their bullpen by dropping Joba Chamberlain and Tom Gorzelanny, giving them plenty of innings for Feliz to cover. This is, however, not the first time the Tigers have depended on a big name from outside the organization. They have a significant recent track record of acquiring closers like Feliz, Joe Nathan, Jim Johnson, Octavio Dotel and Soria to plug a perpetually leaky bullpen, but the quality of those acquisitions has been uneven.
Minor MLB Transactions: 7/10/15
Here are today’s minor moves from throughout the game.
- Rays lefty Everett Teaford has accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Durham, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets. The Rays designated Teaford for assignment on Wednesday. He’s spent most of this season in the rotation with Durham, where he’s posted a 5.56 ERA with 6.1 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 68 innings.
- The Rockies have selected the contract of lefty Aaron Laffey, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post tweets. They’ve also added righty Gonzalez Germen to their active roster, placed righty David Hale (groin strain) on the 15-day DL, optioned righty Scott Oberg, and moved minor league lefty Tyler Anderson (elbow) to the 60-day DL. The 30-year-old Laffey has played parts of seven big-league seasons with the Indians, Mariners, Yankees, Blue Jays and Mets, but he hadn’t appeared in a big-league game since 2013 before appearing with the Rockies tonight. He’s spent this season with Triple-A Albuquerque, posting a 4.91 ERA, 6.2 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 in 47 2/3 innings split between the rotation and the bullpen.
Marlins To Designate Jordany Valdespin
The Marlins have announced that they will designate 2B/OF Jordany Valdespin for assignment. The move will clear space on their active roster for lefty Adam Conley, who will start tomorrow in place of Mat Latos, who has been scratched with a foot bruise.
The Marlins selected Valdespin’s contract just this week, and he collected only one plate appearance in the big leagues. He’s hit .287/.342/.378 in 235 plate appearances with Triple-A New Orleans this season. The 27-year-old has collected 464 plate appearances in parts of four seasons with the Mets and Marlins, batting .217/.273/.371 for his big-league career. He’s generally made more headlines for his behavior than his play, butting heads with Mets manager Terry Collins and earning a PED suspension in 2013.
Dodgers Release Brandon League
JULY 10: The Dodgers have announced that they’ve released League. League is now a free agent, and the Dodgers remain on the hook for the rest of his 2015 salary.
JULY 2: The Dodgers have designated right-hander Brandon League for assignment, the team announced. League, who is earning $7.5MM in 2015, has not pitched this season due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder. He had been on the 60-day disabled list.
League, 32, is in the final season of an ill-fated three-year, $22.5MM contract signed prior to the 2013 season. Widely panned from the moment it was signed, the contract looked dismal in year one, as League posted an ERA of 5.30 with a greatly diminished strikeout rate (4.6 K/9). The 2014 season proved to be a nice rebound for League, who worked to a 3.40 ERA with a slight increase in strikeouts (5.4 per nine) and a drastically improved ground-ball rate of 67.5 percent.
League earned that three-year deal (which was issued by the Dodgers’ former front office, headed by then-GM Ned Colletti) by posting a collective 3.38 ERA with 7.1 K/9, 3.0 BB/9, 59 saves and one of the game’s best ground-ball rates in 320 innings between the Blue Jays, Mariners and Dodgers from 2008-12.
By cutting bait on League, the Dodgers are now paying a combined $17MM to a pair of relievers — League and Brian Wilson — that will not throw a single pitch for the team in 2015. The Dodgers will have 10 days to trade, waive or release League, though in the event that he’s placed on waivers, he’ll assuredly go unclaimed due to his salary and health issues this season.
Tigers Release Joba Chamberlain
The Tigers have released righty Joba Chamberlain, the club announced. The veteran reliever was recently designated for assignment.
Chamberlain signed with the Tigers for just $1MM this offseason and was installed in a set-up role. But he was unable to repeat a fairly productive 2014 campaign, working to a 4.09 ERA over 22 frames before being cut loose.
The 29-year-old has posted a useful strikeout-to-walk ratio of just over 3:1 (6.1 K/9 against 2.0 BB/9), but he’s been victimized steadily by the long ball. As things stand, he’s permitted a 21.7% HR/FB rate, with 2.05 long balls leaving the yard per nine innings.
It would be surprising if Chamberlain does not get another look at the big leagues in relatively short order, though he may be forced to take a minor league deal. His average fastball velocity (93.4 mph) is an exact match for last year’s mark, and he has been victimized by a .360 BABIP-against, leaving some room for optimism.
Dodgers Claim Preston Guilmet, Designate Chris Reed
2:17pm: Los Angeles has announced that it designated lefty Chris Reed for assignment to create 40-man space for Guilmet.
Reed, 25, came into the year rated the organization’s 10th-best prospect, per Baseball America, which said he could develop into a back-end starter or late-inning relief option. The 2011 first-rounder has had some uneven results in recent seasons, and was shifted to a pen role this year. Thus far in 2015, Reed owns a 5.97 ERA over 34 2/3 frames in the upper minors, with more walks (5.7 BB/9) than strikeouts (5.5 K/9).
12:27pm: The Dodgers have claimed righty Preston Guilmet off waivers from the Rays, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports on Twitter. His roster spot had been needed in Tampa Bay for the activation of John Jaso.
Los Angeles has made a notable habit of bringing in a steady stream of relief arms, and Guilmet now joins the flow. The 27-year-old only tossed 5 1/3 big league innings this season, but has spent at least some time in the majors over each of the last three years. While he hasn’t found much success in just 21 innings at the game’s highest level, he does own a promising 2.47 ERA, with 9.8 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9, in his Triple-A career.
Marlins Sign Casey McGehee
TODAY: Miami has announced the signing of McGehee.
YESTERDAY, 4:38pm: McGehee is actually still on release waivers until tomorrow, MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro tweets. Once he clears, the Marlins are expected to make “a strong push” to sign him. McGehee is represented by Meister Sports Management.
4:12pm: The Marlins have agreed to terms with infielder Casey McGehee, Andy Slater of 940 AM-WINZ tweets. Slater notes that McGehee should join the team on Friday.
The Giants released McGehee yesterday, according to MLB.com’s transactions page. They had previously designated him for assignment after an awful .213/.275/.299 performance in 138 plate appearances. The Giants will still be on the hook for most of the remainder of McGehee’s $4.8MM salary.
With Martin Prado on the disabled list with a shoulder issue, the Marlins have lately gone with Derek Dietrich and Miguel Rojas at third base, the position McGehee has played almost exclusively in the big leagues since last season. Both Dietrich and Rojas have performed well at the Triple-A level this year, and Dietrich is also off to a good start in the big leagues, hitting .259/.333/.481 in 60 plate appearances.
Dietrich is, however, left-handed, as is primary first baseman Justin Bour. One would think the right-handed McGehee would still be able to play first base, so the he could potentially fill for one or the other against left-handed pitching. The Marlins already have righty first base options in Michael Morse and Jeff Baker, although Morse is in the midst of a very poor season and Baker is currently dealing with an oblique injury. McGehee has struggled this season too, of course, although the fact that he performed well with the Marlins in 2014 (after which they traded him to San Francisco) might earn him more chances in Miami than he might receive elsewhere. The corresponding move the Marlins make when they officially add McGehee to their roster will likely help explain how they plan to use him.
Braves To Sign Vin Mazzaro To Minors Deal
The Braves have inked righty Vin Mazzaro to a minor-league deal, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports on Twitter. He’ll head to Triple-A upon joining the Atlanta organization.
Mazzaro, 28, threw 12 frames earlier in the year for the Marlins, allowing five earned runs. Though that was good for a solid 3.75 ERA, he allowed 15 hits and six walks while retiring just six batters via strikeout. After being designated and outrighted by Miami, Mazzaro elected free agency.
Over parts of seven seasons in the big leagues, Mazzaro owns a 4.66 ERA while averaging 5.5 K/9 against 3.7 BB/9. His best season came in 2013 with the Pirates, when he put up 73 2/3 frames of 2.81 ERA pitching.
Cubs Designate Donn Roach
The Cubs have designated righty Donn Roach for assignment, the club announced (via Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune, on Twitter). His 40-man spot was needed for the activation of Mike Olt from the DL. Olt was optioned to Triple-A.
Roach, 25, gave up four earned runs in a 3 1/3 inning appearance at the major league level. He has thrown 89 innings with a healthy 2.33 ERA at the Triple-A level on the year, striking out 3.3 and walking 1.6 batters per nine in the process.
Draft Signings: Rhett Wiseman, Miles Gordon
Here are the day’s notable draft signings, with slot values via Baseball America:
- The Nationals have signed third-rounder Rhett Wiseman with an at-slot bonus of $554.1K, Jim Callis of MLB.com reports on Twitter. An outfielder from Vanderbilt, Wiseman profiles as a quality all-around ballplayer rather than bringing any superior tools to the table. Baseball America rated Wiseman as the 88th overall draft-eligible player, his only top-100 ranking.
- Reds fourth-rounder Miles Gordon has signed with the club, Callis recently tweeted. The outfielder will receive a $475K bonus that lands $18,300 shy of the slot value for the 115th pick, Devan Fink tweets. The speedy Canadian product rated within BA’s top 200, based upon his athleticism and reasonably high ceiling. He had been slated to attend the University of San Francisco.