Giants Designate Casey McGehee For Assignment
The Giants announced this morning that Casey McGehee has been designated for assignment in order to clear space on the 40-man roster for infielder Ehire Adrianza, whose contract has been purchased from Triple-A.
There was some confusion surrounding McGehee’s first removal from the roster this year. The Giants announced that he’d been designated for assignment, but McGehee had merely been designated off the 25-man roster in order to be optioned to Triple-A. As a player with five-plus years of big league service, he had the right to refuse the option, but he accepted and remained on the 40-man roster.
Today, the Giants explicitly stated in the announcement that McGehee has been removed from the 40-man roster, making this a standard DFA in which the team will now have 10 days to trade McGehee, release or attempt to outright McGehee. (He could refuse an outright assignment without forfeiting his 2015 salary due to service time.)
McGehee was acquired from the Marlins this offseason in a trade that sent Luis Castillo and Kendry Flores to Miami. San Francisco had hoped that McGehee would produce something similar to the .285/.355/.357 batting line he posted in his return to the Majors last season, helping in part to offset the loss of former franchise cornerstone Pablo Sandoval.
That hasn’t been the case, however, as McGehee has struggled to a .213/.275/.299 batting line in 138 plate appearances this season. He did hit well in his initial demotion to Triple-A, slashing .357/.391/.571 with two homers in 46 plate appearances, though, and he’s batted 5-for-17 with a pair of doubles and three walks since rejoining the big league club.
McGehee, though, didn’t receive a crack at regular playing time upon being brought back from Triple-A due to the strong play of Matt Duffy at the hot corner. Duffy has slashed .303/.349/.491 this season, usurping McGehee as the everyday third baseman and leaving him without a clear path to playing time as a member of the Giants.
This offseason, McGehee avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $4.8MM contract. He’s still owed $2.54MM of that salary, so it seems unlikely that a team would claim him off waivers and take on the remainder of that deal. However, the Giants will have the ability to eat some cash in a potential trade of McGehee, and teams with interest could also simply wait to see if McGehee ends up a free agent, at which point he could be signed for the pro-rated version of the league minimum. (That portion of his salary would then come off the Giants’ books, though they’d still be responsible for the lion’s share of his remaining contract.)
Draft Signings: Abdullah, Simcox, Pruitt
We’ll keep tabs on the day’s notable draft signings here, with slot values via Baseball America.
- Dodgers eleventh rounder Imani Abdullah will sign for $647,500, Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com tweets. SB Nation’s Eric Stephen has done some digging on the young hurler, who is fairly new to the mound and did not earn placement on any major prospect lists. He had been set to play for San Diego State University. All but $100K of L.A.’s spending on the projectable righty must be accounted for from its overall bonus allocation. The Dodgers have yet to agree to terms with many of their picks from the first ten rounds, including four of their first five selections (three of whom just finished playing in the finals of the College World Series).
- The Tigers have agreed to a $600K bonus to land 14th-round pick A.J. Simcox, Jim Callis of MLB.com reports on Twitter. A half-million of that payday will count towards the club’s overall pool limits. The University of Tennessee product is said to be a slick defensive shortstop. Baseball America graded him the 217th-best player available, saying that Simcox has a “line-drive swing” but has shown little in the way of power potential.
- Another $500K bonus is set to hit the books, this one going from the Blue Jays to 24th-round pick Reggie Pruitt, Callis tweets. The Vanderbilt commit drew some relatively high grades entering the draft, with Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs placing him 146th on his list. MLB.com had the outfielder in the 189th slot on its board, crediting him with outstanding speed while noting that his swing mechanics need work.
Tigers To Acquire Alexi Casilla From Rays
The Tigers have acquired infielder Alexi Casilla from the Rays in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press reports (Twitter links). Per the report, Detroit made the move to bolster its organizational depth up the middle.
Casilla, 30, has not seen big league time this year and played in just one game last year for the Orioles. Before that, however, he was rather an active utility player, mostly from the Twins. All told, Casilla has taken 1,893 plate appearances and produced a .247/.302/.331 slash with 80 stolen bases. He has spent most of his time at second, but also has plenty of experience playing shortstop.
Though he’s yet to receive a call-up, Casilla has actually been quite productive this year at Triple-A. Over 142 plate appearances, he has slashed .315/.379/.449. Though a .363 BABIP has helped drive that productivity, Casilla is showing better patience and power numbers than he did last year in the upper minors.
Indians Agree To Over-Slot Bonus With Triston McKenzie
The Indians and No. 42 overall pick Triston McKenzie have agreed to a bonus of $2.3MM, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (via Twitter). As Heyman notes, that bonus comes in significantly higher than the slot value of $1.468MM.
Heading into the draft, some felt that McKenzie’s commitment to Vanderbilt would make him a tough sign, but his tantalizing arm led Cleveland to select him at No. 42 anyhow. McKenzie rated 44th, 46th, 51st and 53rd on the respective prospect lists of Fangraphs, ESPN, Baseball America and MLB.com.
As Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs notes, McKenzie is, at present, an incredibly thin 6’5″ and 165 pounds without great velocity. However, he projects to add a good deal of size and strength and also possesses advanced command with the potential for three above-average pitches. McKenzie won’t turn 18 until August, giving him additional time to fill out what ESPN calls “one of the most projectable arms most scouts have ever seen.” There’s some concern that McKenzie will always be on the thin side, but BA notes that if he does fill out well, “there’s plenty to dream on.”
The Indians have gone over slot to sign both top pick Brady Aiken and McKenzie, but they’ve made up for it further down the board, perhaps most notably with a pair of $5,000 senior signs in the ninth and tenth rounds of the draft.
Erik Kratz Elects Free Agency
Catcher Erik Kratz has elected free agency after being outrighted off the Red Sox’ 40-man roster, reports Brian Macpherson of the Providence Journal (on Twitter). Kratz was designated for assignment by the Red Sox late last week once Blake Swihart recovered from a minor injury.
A career .217/.270/.400 hitter, the 35-year-old Kratz has proven himself capable of hitting for power but at the cost of questionable batting average and OBP marks. Defensively, Kratz’s 31 percent caught-stealing rate is above average, and he’s received plus ratings in terms of pitch framing.
Kratz and his agents at Metis Sports Management will now have the opportunity to seek a deal with any club in need of depth and/or immediate help behind the plate. The Mariners, according to Jon Morosi of FOX Sports (via Twitter), are one team that could be a possible landing spot.
Today’s Outrights: Erik Kratz, Edgar Ibarra
Here are the latest outright assignments, with the newest moves at the top of the post…
- The Red Sox have outrighted catcher Erik Kratz to Triple-A, according to the MLB.com official transactions page. The move concludes a busy week for Kratz, as he was claimed off waivers from the Royals last Sunday and then designated for assignment on Thursday. Kratz has only appeared in four games this season (all with Kansas City), as he has spent time on the DL and also generally had a hard time getting into games given Salvador Perez‘s heavy workload behind the plate.
- The Angels outrighted left-hander Edgar Ibarra off their 40-man roster, club director of communications Eric Kay tweets. The southpaw was already pitching at Triple-A after being optioned back to Salt Lake earlier this month. After ten minor league seasons, the 26-year-old Ibarra finally made his Major League debut, allowing a run in four relief innings for the Angels over two games. Ibarra has posted a 4.20 ERA, 2.07 K/BB rate and 8.0 K/9 over 686 1/3 career minor league innings.
Minor Moves: Mazzaro, Sizemore, Murata, Rogers
Here are today’s minor league transactions from around baseball, with the newest moves at the top of the post. All moves were announced by the teams themselves unless otherwise cited.
- Vin Mazzaro has elected to become a free agent, according to MLB.com’s official transactions page. The veteran righty was designated for assignment by the Marlins earlier this week and then outrighted, giving him the option of accepting the assignment or choosing free agency. Mazzaro has a 3.75 ERA, six strikeouts and six walks over 12 relief innings for Miami this season.
- The Rays selected the contract of Grady Sizemore prior to today’s game, and the veteran outfielder delivered three hits in his Tampa debut. Sizemore was released by the Phillies and signed to a minor league deal by the Rays earlier this month. In corresponding roster moves, righty Matt Andriese was sent to Triple-A and outfielder Desmond Jennings was moved to the 60-day DL.
- The Indians purchased the contract of right-hander Toru Murata, who is making his MLB debut in a start tonight against the Orioles. Murata was signed as a free agent out of Japan in 2010 and he owns a 3.88 ERA, 3.01 K/BB rate and 6.8 K/9 over 489 2/3 minor league innings. In a corresponding move, the Tribe released right-hander Scott Atchison.
- The Yankees selected the contract of righty Esmil Rogers, who was just outrighted off the roster two weeks ago. Rogers has a 6.27 ERA over 33 bullpen innings for New York this season, though he has been hamstrung by a .356 BABIP and a very low 56% strand rate.
- The Pirates selected the contract of utilityman Gorkys Hernandez. Once a top-100 prospect, Hernandez appeared in 70 MLB games with the Pirates and Marlins in 2012 and hasn’t since been back to the Show. Hernandez has a .278/.342/.376 slash line, 33 homers and 213 steals (out of 285 chances) over 4055 career minor league plate appearances.
- The Braves selected the contract of right-hander Ryan Kelly, who is getting his first taste of the majors after nine pro seasons. Kelly was a 26th-round draft pick for the Pirates in 2006 and he’s compiled a 3.99 ERA, 3.10 K/BB rate and 8.2 K/9 over 462 2/3 innings (mostly as a reliever).
Indians Release Scott Atchison
The Indians have released reliever Scott Atchison, the club announced. The 39-year-old righty had been designated for assignment earlier in the week.
Atchison struggled to a 6.86 ERA over 19 2/3 innings this season, though ERA estimators such as xFIP (4.35) and SIERA (4.03) paint a somewhat more sympathetic view of his 2015 performance. Atchison has been badly hurt by the long ball, as he’s already allowed six homers and owns a 2.75 HR/9, which more than triples his 0.91 career HR/9. His 42% ground ball rate is also well below his career 49.7% GBR, which especially hurts since Atchison isn’t a strikeout pitcher.
Cleveland signed Atchison to a $1MM extension last August that paid him a $900K base salary in 2015 as well as a $100K buyout of a $1MM option for 2016. The right-hander was in the midst of a very solid 2.75 ERA campaign for the Tribe in 2014 and had posted very effective numbers from 2011-14 as a member of the Indians, Mets and Red Sox.
With Atchison’s release, only four players remain in limbo according to the MLB Trade Rumors DFA Tracker: Erik Kratz (Red Sox), Rafael Lopez (Cubs), Jose Tabata (Pirates) and Chris Volstad (Pirates).
Orioles Sign First-Round Pick DJ Stewart
The Orioles announced that they have signed first-round pick DJ Stewart. The outfielder was selected with the No. 25 overall pick. Stewart’s deal calls for him to earn $2,064,500, full slot for his draft position, according to Jim Callis of MLB.com (on Twitter). Callis adds that he considers Stewart to be one of the best bats in the 2015 class.
Stewart, an FSU product, slashed .318/.500/.593 with 15 homers in 64 games last season. As a sophomore, the 21-year old was the ACC Player of the Year and an All-ACC First Team selection after leading the conference in batting average, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage.
Stewart was ranked No. 26 by Fangraphs’ Kiley McDaniel, No. 30 by of Baseball America, No. 36 by and Jonathan Mayo/Jim Callis of MLB.com, and No. 70 by Keith Law of ESPN.com. Originally chosen by the Yankees in the 28th round of the 2012 draft, Stewart has improved his stock tremendously over the last three years. In their scouting report, BA was highly complimentary of Stewart’s quick swing and plate discipline. With an adjustment to his stance, some scouts believe that he’ll be able to hit for more power going forward.
Pirates Designate Jose Tabata For Assignment
The Pirates have designated Jose Tabata for assignment, according to Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (on Twitter).
The outfielder once looked like a future cornerstone player but he has fallen off in recent seasons. Last year, Tabata’s struggles resulted in him being outrighted off the 40-man roster. In 41 plate appearances this year, Tabata hit just .289/.341/.289. He fared much better in Triple-A, however, slashing .352/.422/.396 with eleven walks against just eight strikeouts over 102 turns at the plate.
Tabata’s deal calls for him to earn the prorated portion of $4MM this year and $4.5MM next season under the early-career extension that he signed. Back in May, GM Neal Huntington indicated that 2015 could have been Tabata’s final year in Pittsburgh.
As the MLBTR DFA Tracker shows, there are now four players in DFA limbo: Tabata, Rafael Lopez, Erik Kratz, and Scott Atchison.