Draft Signings: Minter, Padres, David Fletcher
The 2015 MLB Draft is in the books, and over the coming weeks we’ll see plenty of picks agree to terms with their new clubs. With so many players selected in the draft, there’s no way to cover all of them, but we’ll run down some of the more notable picks — either due to the size of their signing bonus, the round they were selected or a significantly over-slot/under-slot deal — as they’re reported. Here are today’s notable mid-round signings (with all slot values coming courtesy of Baseball America)…
- The Braves have signed second-rounder A.J. Minter, MLB.com’s Jim Callis reports (via Twitter). Minter will receive a $814.3K bonus, matching the slot value of the 75th overall pick. The left-hander underwent Tommy John surgery in March and injuries limited him to just 58 innings in his career at Texas A&M. It’s yet to be determined whether he’ll stick as a starter or reliever when healthy, though Callis notes that Minter can throw a cutter in the low 90’s and has touched 97mph with his fastball.
- The Padres have signed fourth-rounder Austin Allen ($484K), Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Allen, the 117th overall pick in the draft, will receive the $484K bonus that matches his slot value. The club also made two notable under-slot signings in sixth-rounder Jordan Guerrero ($200K) and ninth-rounder Jerry Keel ($10K), who respectively signed for $71.3K and $151.4K less than their assigned values. As Lin notes, the Padres are already a combined $310K below slot value after just four signings.
- The Angels signed sixth-rounder David Fletcher to a $406.9K bonus, MLB.com’s Jim Callis reports (Twitter link). This is a sizable bump up from the $228.1K slot value for the 195th overall pick.
Minor Moves: Morris, Barney, Wilson
Here are today’s minor moves from around baseball, with the newest transactions at the top of the post…
- The Mets are calling up right-hander Akeel Morris from Single-A St. Lucie, the club announced, and the 22-year-old will be activated before tomorrow’s game against the Blue Jays. Morris was a 10th-round draft pick in 2010 and has never pitched above the high-A level — his only high-A experience comes in 31 relief innings for St. Lucie this season. That said, Morris has been a dominant bullpen arm, posting a 1.74 ERA, 12.8 K/9 and 3.14 K/BB rate this year and recording 12 saves. The 2015 Baseball America Prospect Handbook ranked Morris as the 19th-best prospect in the Mets’ system before the season, noting his plus changeup and a 92-94mph fastball.
- The Dodgers have outrighted infielder Darwin Barney to Triple-A, according to MLB.com’s official transactions page. Barney was designated for assignment on Friday to create 40-man roster space for the newly-acquired Ronald Torreyes. Barney has only appeared in two big league games in 2015, and he has struggled to a .214/.273/.259 slash line over 121 Triple-A plate appearances.
- Also from the MLB.com transactions listing, the Rays outrighted catcher Bobby Wilson to Triple-A Durham. Wilson has a .349 OPS over 59 PA with the Rays this season and was designated for assignment on Thursday.
- Now that Barney and Wilson have been outrighted, that leaves six players in “limbo,” as per the MLB Trade Rumors DFA Tracker. Trevor Cahill (Braves), Matt Dominguez (Astros), Erik Kratz (Royals), J.C. Ramirez (Diamondbacks), Tim Stauffer (Twins), and Rickie Weeks (Mariners) are all awaiting their next assignment.
Angels Sign Jo-Jo Reyes
The Angels have signed Jo-Jo Reyes, a source tells MLBTR. The veteran left-hander will report to Triple-A Salt Lake.
Reyes, 30, was previously with Campeche of the Mexican League and was named an All-Star there roughly two weeks ago. Reyes last appeared in the big leagues in 2011 and will work towards reaching the majors once again in 2015. In that 2011 season, Reyes pitched to a 5.57 ERA in 25 starts and four relief appearances for the Blue Jays and Orioles. He posted a 5.6 K/9 rate versus a 3.1 BB/9.
He’s also quite familiar with the Triple-A level, having spent parts of seven seasons there. Reyes owns a 3.68 ERA with 7.2 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 in Triple-A for multiple teams.
Trea Turner Joins Nationals
12:06pm: The Nationals officially announced that Turner has joined the organization, as Bill Ladson of MLB.com tweets.
11:27am: At long last, Trea Turner is on his way to join the Nationals. Turner is headed to Double-A Harrisburg today, according to Mike Saeger, the play-by-play announcer for the Padres’ Double-A affiliate (on Twitter).
Turner, of course, was shipped from the Padres to the Nationals in December’s three-way deal involving Wil Myers and the Rays. However, Turner was termed as a player to be named later in the swap since he was not eligible to be traded at the time. The agent for the shortstop prospect, Jeff Berry of CAA, expressed concern about his client’s situation almost immediately. At the time, Berry intimated that he might file a grievance action, but ultimately he had a change of heart.
“Trea has put this matter behind him and is focusing on his development and being a productive member of the Padres organization,” Berry said in a February statement.
Of course, just last month, the league ultimately decided to alter the PTBNL rules. Now, players selected in the amateur draft are permitted to be traded beginning the day after the conclusion of the World Series.
Over 321 plate appearances at the low-A and Class A levels last year, Turner slashed .323/.406/.448 with five home runs and 23 stolen bases. This year, in Double-A San Antonio, the former No. 13 overall pick has hit .322/.385/.471 across 254 plate appearances with five homers.
Coming into the season, Turner was rated as the No. 65 prospect in the game by Baseball America. Back in January, John Manuel of Baseball America speculated that the Padres did not view Turner as a shortstop in the long run since he does not have an exceptionally strong arm. Others believe that Turner can blossom into a strong shortstop at the big league level, however.
Reds Release Jason Marquis
The Reds have released pitcher Jason Marquis, according to the MLB.com transactions page. Marquis was designated for assignment to make room for right-hander Jon Moscot earlier this month.
Marquis, 36, posted a 6.46 ERA in 47 1/3 innings with the Reds across nine starts. Though his 7.0 K/9 rate and 2.7 BB/9 rate are both markedly better than his career numbers in those categories, Marquis was very homer-prone. He’s also seen his typically excellent ground-ball rate dip back to about the league average, so the increase in the percentage of fly-balls against him that leave the yard has been magnified by the fact that he’s giving up fly-balls at a higher rate in previous years.
The veteran Marquis won a spot in Cincinnati’s rotation this spring when Tony Cingrani was shifted to the bullpen. While Cingrani has taken well to pitching in relief, Marquis has did not experience that same level of success in the rotation.
Marquis, a client of ACES, spent much of the 2014 campaign recovering from Tommy John surgery. He ultimately signed a minor league deal with the Phillies, but he also worked out in front of Reds scouts. He circled back to Cincinnati when he signed with the Reds in January, but his stay did not last through the summer.
For his career, Marquis owns a 4.61 ERA with 5.4 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 over the course of 15 seasons.
Red Sox Outright Peguero; Japanese Team Interested
The Red Sox have outrighted outfielder Carlos Peguero to Triple-A Pawtucket, according to the MLB.com transactions page. However, he has yet to report and Chris Cotillo of SB Nation (on Twitter) hears rumblings that there may be a Japanese team interested in acquiring his rights.
Peguero, 28, was designated for assignment on June 4th in order to make room for the newly-added Alejandro De Aza. Peguero himself was a new addition for the Red Sox as Boston acquired him in late May from the Rangers. The Red Sox likely brought in Peguero to give them an additional left-handed bat in the outfield, but De Aza filled that need when he came aboard.
In total, Peguero saw only six big league plate appearances with Boston. He’s always had plenty of pop — as his 30 Triple-A home runs last year attest — but Peguero strikes out quite a bit while walking only at the league average. Now it remains to be seen whether Peguero will bring his big bat to the minors or to NPB.
As the MLBTR DFA Tracker shows, there are now eight players in DFA limbo: Rickie Weeks, J.C. Ramirez, Darwin Barney, Trevor Cahill, Erik Kratz, Bobby Wilson, Tim Stauffer, and Matt Dominguez.
Athletics Agree To Terms With Dakota Chalmers
The Athletics have agreed to a $1.2MM bonus with third-round draft pick Dakota Chalmers, tweets Jim Callis of MLB.com. Slot value for pick 97 is $586.9K. The deal is $613.1K over slot value.
Callis adds (via Tweet) that Chalmers is an 18-year-old right-handed pitcher from Georgia. He tops out at 98 mph with his fastball and flashes quality breaking stuff with an improving changeup. He was viewed as a possible first round selection. FanGraphs’ Kiley McDaniel ranked him 64th overall. He’s shown decent command and control.
The over slot signing likely means that the Athletics expect to save money on first round pick Richie Martin ($2.214MM slot) and/or second round pick Mikey White ($979.6K).
Indians To Promote Francisco Lindor
The Indians are expected to promote shortstop prospect Francisco Lindor, tweets Yahoo’s Jeff Passan. He will join the team tomorrow.
The 21-year-old is widely viewed as a top 10 prospect. He’s ranked fourth by Baseball Prospectus, sixth by ESPN’s Kieth Law, and ninth by Baseball America. FanGraphs’ Kiley McDaniel is the sole guru to rank him outside the top 10 (14th). Lindor was the eighth overall pick of the 2011 Rule 4 draft.
The switch-hitter slashed .279/.346/.398 in 259 Triple-A plate appearances. Unlike other notable prospect promotions like Kris Bryant, Joey Gallo, Carlos Correa, or Byron Buxton, Lindor’s bat isn’t expected to be special in the near future (he could certainly develop). He’s viewed as a high contact, gap-to-gap hitter, but it’s his speed and defense that ooze potential.
The decision to promote the youngster is not surprising. The team recently demoted Jose Ramirez after he hit just .180/.247/.240. Cleveland would probably like to move Mike Aviles (.284/.344/.405) back into a reserve role. He’s viewed as a modest defensive liability at shortstop and can also be used to spell Giovanny Urshela and Jason Kipnis. Lindor should add stability to a sometimes shaky Indians defense.
Like the promotion of Buxton by the Twins earlier today, Lindor is unlikely to qualify as a Super Two. He’ll remain club controlled through 2021 at the very least. Lindor is reportedly battling some minor injuries. Expect the club to handle their top prospect carefully.
Mets Acquire Alex Torres
Jun 13: The player to be named later is left-handed pitcher Brad Wieck, tweets Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. He’ll now head to the Padres. The southpaw was the Mets’ seventh round pick in the 2014 Rule 4 draft. He has a 3.21 ERA with 11.89 K/9 and 3.38 BB/9 in 56 Low-A innings. FanGraphs prospect analyst Kiley McDaniel says Wieck’s fastball works in the low 90’s. The 23-year-old could move quickly as a situational reliever.
Mar 30: The Mets announced that they have acquired left-handed reliever Alex Torres from the Padres in exchange for Minor League right-hander Cory Mazzoni and a player to be named later.
Torres, 27, will give the Mets a much-needed left-handed option in the bullpen. Josh Edgin, who had projected to be New York’s top southpaw reliever, underwent Tommy John surgery earlier this month, leaving the team precariously thin in this department. Since that time, rumors have circulated about potential matches for the Mets, who have been linked to Baltimore’s Brian Matusz as well as J.P. Howell, Paco Rodriguez and Adam Liberatore of the Dodgers. Colorado’s Rex Brothers was also suggested as a fit.
In Torres, New York receives a pitcher that has posted a 2.49 ERA with 9.1 K/9, 4.3 BB/9 and a 44.7 percent ground-ball rate over the past two seasons. Torres has benefited from a perhaps unsustainbly low homer-to-flyball ratio of just 3.1 percent, though Citi Field’s generally pitcher-friendly dimensions may help him to sustain an above-average rate in that regard.
Torres does come with some control issues, as he averaged 5.5 walks per nine innings pitched in 2014. That, combined with some correction for his good fortune on home runs, leads sabermetric ERA estimators to peg him for an ERA in the mid-3.00s rather than to sustain his sub-3.00 mark.
Somewhat curiously, most of Torres’ control problems come against left-handed hitters. Right-handers have batted a meager .175/.260/.251 against Torres dating back to 2013, while lefties have exploited his lack of control and gotten on base at a .341 clip against Torres. Of course, they’ve also batted just .213 and slugged .276, so if he can rein in his control, he could post dominant overall numbers.
With one year and 141 days of service time under his belt, Torres can be controlled via arbitration through the 2019 season. However, because he’ll end up with two years, 141 days next offseason (assuming a full year of service time is accrued, as one would expect), he’s a likely Super Two player, meaning he will be arbitration-eligible four times as opposed to three.
The 25-year-old Mazzoni was New York’s second-round pick back in 2011 and is generally ranked as the Mets’ 15th-20th best prospect, per Baseball America, MLB.com and Fangraphs. Mazzoni split the 2014 campaign across four levels, spending the bulk of his time at Triple-A where he worked to a 4.67 ERA with 49 strikeouts against just 12 walks in 52 innings. Mazzoni has spent much of his career as a starter, but most feel that he’s likely destined for relief work if he surfaces in the Majors, where his low 90s fastball will instead reach the mid-90s, serving as a complement to an above-average slider.
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported (via Twitter) that the Mets had acquired Torres.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Diamondbacks Designate J.C. Ramirez
The Diamondbacks have announced that they’ve designated righty J.C. Ramirez for assignment. The move clears space on the D-backs’ active roster for Saturday starter Allen Webster.
The 26-year-old Ramirez had pitched 15 1/3 innings out of Arizona’s bullpen this season, posting a 4.11 ERA and a terrific 62.5% ground-ball rate while striking out 11 batters and walking four. Given that he was reasonably effective while regularly throwing in the mid-90s, it’s not impossible other teams could consider claiming him, even though he was a minor league signee last winter.
Ramirez spent all of 2014 pitching in the Indians’ system, and his only other big-league experience before this year came with the 2013 Phillies. He is perhaps best known for being one of three players (along with Tyson Gillies and Phillippe Aumont) the Mariners sent the Phillies for Cliff Lee in 2009.