Minor Moves: Andy Oliver
Here are today’s minor moves from around the league…
- The Rays have signed left-hander Andy Oliver to a Minor League deal, tweets Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune. Oliver, 27, was in camp with the Phillies as a Rule 5 pick, and struck out 22 hitters in 12 2/3 innings, but the 11 walks he issued prompted the team to place him on waivers. Oliver was eventually outrighted and elected free agency. The former Tigers prospect also punched out 85 hitters in just 64 relief innings at Triple-A with the Pirates last year, albeit with a problematic 47 walks also coming in that time.
Nationals Designate Xavier Cedeno For Assignment
The Nationals have designated lefty reliever Xavier Cedeno for assignment, SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets. Dan Kolko of MASNsports.com tweeted earlier that Cedeno was not on the club’s lineup card.
Cedeno earned a spot on the team out of camp when fellow southpaw Jerry Blevins was surprisingly dealt away late this spring. The 28-year-old has made five appearances already in 2015, allowing two earned runs over three innings while striking out four and walking two batters. He has filled some temporary pen shortages over the last two years in D.C., but was out of options this season and so had to be added to the active roster heading out of camp. That seemed unlikely until the team traded Blevins.
Righty Rafael Martin will take his place on the active roster for the time being. Martin, 30, is a veteran minor leaguer who has yet to see any MLB action. The Nationals signed Martin out of the Mexican League in 2010, before his age-26 season, and he has bounced up and down the system since. He turned a corner in the upper minors last year, when he worked to a 1.39 ERA over 58 1/3 innings with 10.2 K/9 against 1.9 BB/9. He was particularly nasty in 33 2/3 Triple-A frames, allowing just three earned runs and striking out more batters (42) than he allowed on base (27) by hit or walk.
Of course, the move will leave the Nats’ pen with just one lefty, Matt Thornton. The team does have veteran Rich Hill and well-regarded youngster Matt Grace available at Triple-A, however, and apparently feels comfortable with those options.
Indians Sign Jhoulys Chacin, Designate Shaun Marcum
The Indians have announced a series of transactions, including the signing of righty Jhoulys Chacin to a minor league deal. Fellow right-hander Shaun Marcum was designated for assignment, while backstop Brett Hayes will take his roster spot.
Chacin, 27, was cut loose by the Rockies this spring in something of a surprise move. He struggled with shoulder issues last year, and injuries are the main concern given his effectiveness when healthy. Overall, Chacin owns a 3.78 ERA with 6.9 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9 to go with a 48.2% groundball rate. He joins Ryan Webb as a recently-added veteran depth piece in the Cleveland system.
Of course, much of the same could have been said of Marcum, 33, who was quite a productive starter in his heyday but who has battled injuries in recent campaigns. He made one appearance for the Indians, allowing just one earned run in five innings of relief, but will presumably be left to look for a new opportunity.
As for Hayes, he is needed to fill in for the injured Yan Gomes. The veteran backup has never done much damage on offense but will provide a steady presence in reserve while Gomes is down. It remains to be seen how long his services will be needed at the big league level, as Cleveland is said to be weighing the possibility of making an addition to its catching corps.
Minor Moves: Charles Brewer
We’ll keep track of the day’s minor moves here:
- The Indians have released Charles Brewer, according to a Twitter announcement from the club’s Triple-A affiliate. Brewer, a 27-year-old righty, was acquired by Cleveland over the winter from the Diamondbacks, with whom he had spent his entire professional career — including a brief, four-appearance call-up back in 2013. Last year, at Triple-A, he put up a 4.46 ERA in 169 2/3 innings with 7.3 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9. But he was hit hard in limited Cactus League action this spring.
Indians Sign Ryan Webb
The Indians have reached a minor league deal with righty Ryan Webb, the club announced. Webb has been assigned to the club’s Triple-A affiliate.
Webb started the year with the Orioles, still playing under the free agent contract he signed before the 2014 season. Before appearing in a game, he went through an interesting series of transactions that left him outrighted — and later released — by the Dodgers. As MLBTR’s Charlie Wilmoth explains, the net result was that Los Angeles paid down Webb’s 2015 salary in exchange for the rights to the 74th overall pick in this year’s amateur draft.
Of course, those maneuvers may sell Webb short to an extent. He has been at least an average reliever, with peripherals to match, over 325 1/3 innings across the last six seasons. He posted career bests in both strikeouts (6.8 per nine) and walks (2.2 per nine) last year. While his groundball rate fell only a few ticks above league average in 2014, he owns a strong 56.1% mark for his career.
All in all, he seems to be a nice player to have waiting at Triple-A — especially with another club picking up the tab. Cleveland obviously feels that way after moving quickly to add him to its depth chart.
Reds Designate Daniel Corcino, Ryan Dennick
The Reds have designated righty Daniel Corcino and lefty Ryan Dennick for assignment, the club announced. That clears 40-man roster spots for catcher Kyle Skipworth and righty Josh Smith, both of whose contracts were selected.
Corcino is a 24-year-old who has spent most of his professional career as a starter. Over 148 1/3 innings last year he put up a 4.25 ERA with 7.2 K/9 versus 4.5 BB/9 at Triple-A, and also picked up three starts and two relief appearances in the majors.
Likewise, the 28-year-old Dennick has only 4 2/3 MLB frames under his belt, all last year with Cincinnati. He had a strong showing last year in the upper minors, spinning 50 innings of 2.34 ERA ball with 7.2 K/9 against 3.2 BB/9.
Yankees Designate Kyle Davies, Sign Joel De La Cruz
The Yankees have designated righty Kyle Davies for assignment, the club announced. Just as occurred yesterday when he was added to the active roster, Davies will cede his spot to another player who was signed to a big league deal — in this case, righty Joel De La Cruz.
Davies tossed 2 1/3 scoreless frames last night in his first major league outing since 2011. Last year, working at Triple-A for the Indians, he posted 154 1/3 innings of 3.91 ERA ball. Of course, Davis had plenty of big league experience coming into the season. Over parts of seven seasons with the Braves and Royals, he had thrown 770 1/3 innings with a 5.59 ERA with 6.4 K/9 against 4.3 BB/9.
De La Cruz, 25, worked to a 4.44 ERA in 121 2/3 minor league innings last year, split between Double-A and Triple-A. That was rather an impressive showing, given that he had made just six starts over his prior minor league career, most all of which had been spent in relief.
Braves Designate Juan Jaime For Assignment
The Braves announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Sugar Ray Marimon and designated fellow righty Juan Jaime in order to clear room on both the 40-man and 25-man rosters.
Jaime, 27, made the Braves’ Opening Day roster in part because he’s out of Minor League options. The 6’2″, 250-pound righty appeared in two games for Atlanta this season and has totaled 13 2/3 innings for them dating back to 2014, totaling a 5.93 ERA with 19 strikeouts and an unsightly 13 walks in that time. Big strikeout totals and troublesome control are nothing new for Jaime, who has averaged 12.9 strikeouts and 6.1 walks per nine innings in the Minors. He’s averaged 96.1 mph on his fastball in his limited big league work, which, paired with his swing-and-miss stuff, may be enough that another team has interest in the big righty.
Dodgers Release Ryan Webb
The Dodgers announced that they have released recently acquired right-hander Ryan Webb. With this move, it becomes relatively clear that L.A.’s incentive in making the swap was simply to acquire the Competitive Balance draft pick that Baltimore included in order to get the Dodgers to assume all of Webb’s $2.75MM salary — a strategy that was examined in depth last night by MLBTR’s Charlie Wilmoth.
The 29-year-old Webb will now be free to sign anywhere he chooses, and as a player with five-plus years of service time, he is entitled to reject his outright assignment and force the club to trade or release him (with pay). As such, interested parties will only be on the hook for the pro-rated portion of the league minimum on a big league deal, with the Dodgers owing the remainder of his salary. That’s not necessarily a bad outcome for Webb, who is still guaranteed his money and is now free to choose a club that presents him the clearest path to a role to his liking.
As Charlie noted in last night’s analysis, that Webb’s $2.75MM salary is apparently viewed as exorbitant is a bit puzzling in its own right. While he’s not a shutdown reliever, Webb’s never posted an ERA+ lower than 99 and has been better than that in recent years. He’s served as a reasonably effective reliever with the Padres, Marlins and Orioles to this point, working to a 3.38 ERA with 6.3 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 and a 56.1 percent ground-ball rate in his career. While it’s true that he doesn’t fit the mold of the hard-throwing power relievers that are proliferating today’s game — his 92 mph fastball is notably tamer than the 95 he averaged in his first two seasons — Webb has still shown the ability to retire big league hitters.
As I noted at the time of the trade, the Dodgers will add not only the No. 74 pick in the draft, but also the money that comes along with it. That pick comes with a slot value of $827K, which will be subtracted from Baltimore’s draft pool and added to that of the Dodgers. The Orioles’ draft pool will drop from $7,677,400 to $6,850,400, while the Dodgers’ pool will rise from $6,954,700 to $7,781,700. And it should, of course, be noted that the Dodgers do come away with Minor League catcher Brian Ward. While he’s not an elite prospect, Ward ranked as the Orioles’ best defensive Minor League catcher (per Baseball America) prior to the 2013 season, so the Dodgers will at the very least add some depth and a strong defender to their ranks, even if Ward has never hit much.
Minor Moves: Jimenez, Tuiasosopo, Schlereth, Jones
Matt Eddy of Baseball America has released the latest installment of his Minor League Transactions roundup, which contains several yet-unreported moves, as usual. All transactions in today’s Minor Moves post are via Eddy, unless otherwise noted…
- The Phillies have announced that left-hander Cesar Jimenez has cleared outright waivers and accepted an assignment to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Jimenez was outrighted over the weekend to clear a roster spot for right-hander Sean O’Sullivan, but he’ll accept a third outright assignment from the Phillies and hope to get another look in the big league bullpen soon. Jimenez did have the option to reject the outright in search of other employment, but he elected to remain with the organization.
Earlier Moves
- The White Sox have added utility man Matt Tuiasosopo on a Minor League deal after he was released by the Orioles earlier this month. The 28-year-old infielder/outfielder hasn’t appeared in the Majors since posting a solid .244/.351/.415 batting line in 191 plate appearances with the Tigers. Those numbers are significantly better than Tuiasosopo’s career numbers in the bigs, and he batted a less convincing .240/.357/.379 in 487 PAs between the Triple-A affiliates of the White Sox and Blue Jays in 2014.
- Daniel Schlereth‘s name is among a slew of farmhands released by the Tigers. Detroit inked Schlereth to a Minors deal back in January (without a camp invite), but he didn’t pitch in a game in Detroit’s system before being released. Schlereth was a useful member of Detroit’s bullpen back in 2010-11 after being included in the Max Scherzer/Ian Kennedy/Curtis Granderson three-team blockbuster, but shoulder injuries have derailed his career.
- The Orioles have re-signed right-hander Devin Jones on a Minor League pact, which is of particular note due to the fact that Jones was the pitcher traded to the Padres in exchange for righty Brad Brach. The 24-year-old Jones made 25 starts between the Class-A Advanced and Double-A levels of Baltimore’s system in 2013, but he pitched just 37 1/3 innings with the Friars’ Double-A affiliate last year, working to a 7.23 ERA with an unsightly 20-to-12 K/BB ratio.