Rockies Outright Charlie Culberson
The Rockies have announced that they’ve reinstated infielder Charlie Culberson from the 60-day disabled list and outrighted him to Triple-A Albuquerque. The Rockies placed Culberson on the DL in April with a bulging disc in his back.
The 26-year-old Culberson collected 233 plate appearances in 2014 but hit for a .195/.253/.290 line that was especially meager given that he played half his games at Coors Field. He’s capable of playing all four infield positions when healthy and has also played left field, though, so he does provide a bit of versatility. He’s a career .284/.316/.469 hitter at the Triple-A level, although he’s mostly posted those numbers in the offense-friendly environment of Colorado Springs.
Nationals Promote Joe Ross
SATURDAY: The Nationals have officially announced the move. To clear space for Ross on their active roster, they’ve optioned fellow pitcher A.J. Cole to Triple-A Syracuse. The clear space on the 40-man, they moved righty Craig Stammen to the 60-day disabled list.
FRIDAY: The Nationals will promote right-handed pitching prospect Joe Ross (the younger brother of San Diego’s Tyson Ross) on Saturday prior to their game versus the Cubs, according to a tweet from NorCal Baseball — Ross’ baseball league from his teenage years. Nationals manager Matt Williams has since told reporters, including MLB.com’s Bill Ladson (Twitter link) that Ross will indeed be starting against the Cubs tomorrow.
One of two key players acquired in the three-team trade that sent Wil Myers to the Padres and Steven Souza Jr. to the Rays (the other being Trea Turner, who is still with San Diego due to PTBNL status), Ross entered the season ranked as the No. 63 prospect in baseball, according to ESPN’s Keith Law (Insider subscription required). Baseball America and also considered him a Top 100 prospect, although they were a bit less bullish, ranking him 96th.
Ross has made pitching at Double-A Harrisburg look easy in his first year with the Nationals organization, compiling a 2.81 ERA with 9.5 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 in 51 1/3 innings. The former 25th-overall draft pick is said by BA to possess a fastball that sits 91-93 mph but can be ramped up to 96 mph when needed. BA also calls his low- to mid-80s slider a plus pitch and notes that his changeup made a significant amount of improvement in 2014, giving Ross a chance to pan out as a No. 3 type starter in the Majors.
The Nationals have incurred a pair of notable injuries in their rotation, with both Stephen Strasburg and Doug Fister on the shelf at the moment. Perhaps more troubling is the fact that neither pitched particularly well when healthy. Strasburg’s velocity and K/BB numbers remained strong, giving the team some hope, but Fister’s velocity was down around 85 mph, and his strikeouts have all but vanished. Tanner Roark has slotted into the rotation in their absence, and the highly regarded Cole has made a start as well. But Roark has not matched his 2014 success either; despite a 2.59 ERA, Roark has just 11 strikeouts in 31 1/3 innings this year and a woeful 5.35 FIP.
None of this is to say that Ross is guaranteed to receive a prolonged look in the Major Leagues. Given his complete lack of experience at the Triple-A level, he could very well find himself back in the minors for more seasoning. Were Ross to remain with the Nationals for the duration of the season, however, he’d accumulate 122 days of Major League service time, which would, in all likelihood, leave him short of attaining Super Two status down the line.
Minor Moves: McGehee, McGowan, Schebler, Venditte, Marrero, Mooneyham, Demeritte
Here are the day’s minor moves:
- Several notable players are en route to the big leagues. The Giants have brought back third baseman Casey McGehee after he hit well in a brief Triple-A stint (having accepted an optional assignment). Fellow veteran Dustin McGowan, a right-hander, has been recalled by the Phillies; he had been outrighted off the 40-man earlier in the year. And the Dodgers have called up outfielder Scott Schebler, the organization’s minor league player of the year in 2013, who will see his first MLB action. He was placed on the club’s 40-man roster last year, though his numbers have fallen off somewhat early this season after two consecutive .900+ OPS campaigns in the high minors.
- Most exciting of all, perhaps, is the news that the Athletics have announced that switch-pitcher Pat Venditte has been added to the big league roster. A nearly-unprecedented hurler, Venditte reverses the very idea of platoons by moving seamlessly between pitching with his right and left arms. He’s been outstanding this year at Triple-A, tossing 33 frames of 1.36 ERA ball with 9.0 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9. The 29-year-old has been particularly stingy when facing lefties, holding them to a remarkable .095/.136/.095 slash.
- First baseman Chris Marrero has reached a minor league deal with the White Sox, Mike Ashmore of MyCentralJersey.com writes. The former Nationals prospect, now 26, had been playing with the indy league Somerset Patriots. He’ll report to Double-A for the Chicago organization.
- The Nationals have released lefty Brett Mooneyham, who was their third-round pick in the 2012 draft, Matt Eddy of Baseball America tweets. Mooneyham, a 25-year-old Stanford product, has struggled badly with control and shifted exclusively to the pen at the A-ball level this year. He owned just a 6.41 ERA over 19 2/3 frames with 16 strikeouts against 13 walks.
- Rangers prospect Travis Demeritte, a first-round pick in 2013, has been hit with an 80-game suspension for using banned substances, Anthony Andro of FOX Sports Southwest reports on Twitter. The infielder was repeating the Sally League at age 20. Over 664 plate appearances at the level, he owns a .220/.320/.438 slash with 30 long balls and 16 stolen bases but a whopping 240 strikeouts.
Reds Designate Jason Marquis For Assignment
The Reds announced that they have designated right-hander Jason Marquis for assignment today (Twitter link). The move paves the way for the team to select the contract of right-hander Jon Moscot, who will start tonight’s game versus the Padres. Additionally, Cincinnati has placed righty Raisel Iglesias on the disabled list with an oblique strain and recalled right-handed reliever Pedro Villarreal from Triple-A Louisville in his place.
The veteran Marquis won a spot in Cincinnati’s rotation this spring when Tony Cingrani was somewhat unexpectedly shifted to the bullpen. While Cingrani has been one of the team’s more effective relievers in terms of ERA, Marquis has not experienced success in the rotation.
Marquis, 36, has totaled 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 has been 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 23-year-old Moscot entered the season ranked 20th among Cincinnati farmhands by both Baseball America and Fangraphs, while MLB.com was a bit more optimistic, ranking him 14th. The consensus among the three scouting reports is that Moscot has a fifth starter’s ceiling thanks to four average pitches. BA notes that he lacks a true plus pitch, and while he has better pure stuff than former Reds farmhand Ben Lively (who was traded to the Phillies in exchange for Marlon Byrd), Lively misses far more bats due to better deception on the mound. FG’s Kiley McDaniel notes that while fifth starter is the upside, the Reds should be pleased if he turns out as a middle reliever or long man as well.
Braves Designate Eric Young Jr. For Assignment
The Braves announced today that they have activated first baseman/outfielder Joey Terdoslavich from the 15-day disabled list and designated outfielder Eric Young Jr. for assignment in order to clear space on the roster.
Young, who turned 30 roughly two weeks ago, made the Braves’ roster out of Spring Training after being in camp as a non-roster invitee on a minor league contract. He was expected to see significant time in the outfield due to Melvin Upton’s foot injury, but the Braves’ late acquisition of Cameron Maybin in the trade that sent Upton and Craig Kimbrel to the Padres cut into his potential playing time. Maybin has been excellent in his first season in Atlanta, while Young has batted just .169/.229/.273 in 85 trips to the plate with the Braves.
As MLB.com’s Mark Bowman tweets, Terdoslavich hasn’t played much yet on his rehab assignment, but the Braves have been looking to bolster their bench for quite some time. In fact, Bowman further tweets that Young likely would have been designated in May had it not been for an oblique injury to Kelly Johnson — another veteran whose strong performance cut into Young’s expected playing time.
Terdoslavich, 26, hasn’t hit much in his limited Major League career to date, but he’s batted .261/.328/.419 in 1135 Triple-A plate appearances over parts of three seasons and had stronger numbers than that when cutting his teeth at the Double-A level.
Marlins Designate Jhonatan Solano For Assignment
The Marlins announced today that they’ve designated catcher Jhonatan Solano for assignment in order to clear a spot on the roster for fellow catcher Jeff Mathis, who has been activated from the disabled list.
Solano, 29, has just 21 plate appearances with Miami this season and 108 in his big league career between Miami and Washington. He’s a lifetime .184/.222/.301 hitter in the Majors and went just 1-for-20 with a walk this season. At Triple-A, he’s batted .241/.286/.346 in 1085 PAs, and he’s caught an above-average 32 percent of baserunners over the course of his minor league career.
Marlon Byrd Suffers Fractured Wrist
JUNE 5: Manager Bryan Price told reporters prior to last night’s contest that Byrd will be in a soft cast for a week to 10 days and will be further evaluated once it is removed, per C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer (on Twitter).
JUNE 2: Reds left fielder Marlon Byrd exited Tuesday’s contest in the sixth inning after being hit by a pitch, and manager Bryan Price told reporters after the game that X-rays revealed a fracture in his right wrist (Twitter link via Mark Sheldon of MLB.com). Further updates on Byrd will likely be available tomorrow.
Acquired from the Phillies this winter in exchange for pitching prospect Ben Lively, Byrd got off to a dreadful start with the Reds. However, after slashing just .169/.188/.273 in the month of April, Byrd came to life in May, batting a hefty .244/.353/.581 with eight homers. That production put to rest concern among some Reds fans that the 37-year-old didn’t have anything left in the tank, and it also increased the likelihood that even if Cincinnati fell out of the NL Central race, they’d have a reasonably desirable trade chip.
The severity and exact location of the fracture aren’t known, so at this point it’s difficult to know precisely how Byrd’s injury will impact the Reds’ summer plans. Even if he is back in relatively short order, though, hand/wrist injuries can sap the power production of a player upon his return. And with a severe enough fracture, it’s possible that he could be sidelined into the month of August. That wouldn’t preclude a trade — if the Reds had intentions to trade Byrd at all, of course — but it would certainly complicate the process.
Furthermore, the injury may have significant financial implications for Byrd, whose two-year, $16MM contract contains a vesting/club option. That option, valued at $8MM, becomes guaranteed if Byrd totals 1100 plate appearances between the 2014 and 2015 seasons, so long as at least half of those plate appearances come in 2015. In other words, he needed 550 plate appearances this year to guarantee himself an additional $8MM. Presently, Byrd has 184 plate appearances, leaving him 366 shy of that additional guaranteed money.
Yankees Outright Matt Tracy
The Yankees have outrighted left-hander Matt Tracy off their 40-man roster, according to the club’s transactions page. With the move, the team’s 40-man roster stands at 38 players.
This marks the second time in 2015 that the Yankees have removed Tracy, 26, from their 40-man. Back in April, the Yankees designated Tracy for assignment and tried to get him through outright waivers, but he was claimed by the Marlins. Tracy, however, didn’t throw a pitch with the Marlins organization before being designated for assignment in Miami, and the Yankees wound up re-claiming him days later. It would seem then that the Yankees see plenty to like in Tracy but consider him a fringe option on the 40-man.
In 25 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level this season, Tracy has posted a 6.75 ERA, though he was substantially better in 2014. Last year, the former 24th-round pick worked to a combined 3.76 ERA with 5.3 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 150 2/3 innings between Double-A Trenton and Triple-A Scranton Wilkes/Barre.
David Aardsma Opts Out Of Dodgers Contract
Right-hander David Aardsma has opted out of his minor league contract with the Dodgers and is now a free agent, MLBTR has learned (Twitter link). The veteran righty had a June 1 opt-out clause that triggered a 72-hour window for the Dodgers to place him on the 25-man roster, which expired today.
The 33-year-old Aardsma has pitched quite well for L.A.’s Triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma City, working to an excellent 2.41 ERA with 11.1 K/9, 3.4 BB/9 and 15 saves in 18 2/3 innings. Aardsma recently explained to The Oklahoman’s Jacob Unruh that his offseason work in a strengthening program called Top Velocity helped him add a couple of ticks back to his fastball, which is now regularly sitting in the 91-93 mph range.
Aardsma enjoyed a successful run as the Mariners’ closer from 2009-10, tallying a 2.90 ERA with 9.6 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9 in 121 innings before hip surgery and Tommy John surgery put his career on hold. He made a brief return to the Majors late in 2012, throwing an inning for the Yankees, and he spent much of the 2013 campaign in the Mets’ bullpen, working to a 4.31 ERA in 39 1/3 innings.
In the 2013-14 offseaon, Aardsma signed a minor league deal with the Cardinals, and his 2014 success at Triple-A was similar, if not even greater than the success he has enjoyed thus far in 2015. However, a groin injury ended his 2014 season after 35 innings of 1.29 ERA ball with the Cardinals’ top minor league affiliate.
Aardsma is one of a handful of pitchers to opt out of his minor league deal in early June. We’ve also seen J.C. Gutierrez, Robert Coello and Kevin Correia opt out of their deals with the Giants, and lefty Dana Eveland opted out of his Red Sox contract last night. The recent influx of experienced arms on the free agent market will give teams that are searching for bullpen help a deeper pool from which to draw.
Just today, Yankees GM Brian Cashman said that his club is on the lookout for right-handed relief options. The Braves, too, are said to be trying to trade for relief help, but it stands to reason that their reluctance to spend significant money could lead them to look to recent opt-outs as well.
Outrighted: Tommy Field, Gary Brown
Here are the day’s minor moves:
- Middle infielder Tommy Field has accepted an outright assignment with the Rangers after clearing waivers, club executive VP of communications John Blake announced. The 28-year-old will provide a depth option for the big league club. He has seen 45 turns at bat this year with the major league club, slashing .195/.250/.366.
- The Angels have outrighted outfielder Gary Brown to Triple-A after he cleared waivers, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times tweets. Brown was designated for assignment on Monday to clear a 40-man spot. The former first-round pick has hit a meager .202/.254/.331 this year at Salt Lake, but he’ll have a chance to stay in a familiar environment as he looks to engineer a turnaround and earn a crack at the big leagues.