Minor Moves: Aaron Thompson, Chris Bassitt
Here are today’s minor moves from around the game.
- The Twins have selected the contract of lefty Aaron Thompson, Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press tweets. Thompson will take the roster spot vacated when the Twins lost Sam Deduno to the Astros’ waiver claim. Thompson, 27, posted a 3.98 ERA with 8.8 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9 in 52 innings this season at Triple-A Rochester. The former Marlins first-round draft pick appeared briefly in the big leagues with the Pirates in 2011.
- The White Sox have selected the contract of pitcher Chris Bassitt from Double-A Birmingham, Fred B. Mitchell of the Chicago Tribune tweets. The White Sox also optioned Scott Carroll to Triple-A Charlotte and recalled pitcher Eric Surkamp. Bassitt will start the second game of Chicago’s doubleheader against the Tigers tonight (against another pitcher making his big-league debut, Kyle Ryan). The 25-year-old Bassitt has pitched well in 34 2/3 innings at Birmingham this year, posting a 1.56 ERA with 9.3 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9.
Rangers Designate Mike Carp For Assignment
The Rangers have announced that they’ve designated 1B/OF Mike Carp for assignment. The move clears space for Derek Holland to be activated from the 60-day DL. (The Rangers also recalled Robbie Ross and optioned Nick Tepesch to Triple-A Round Rock.) Carp had only made 46 plate appearances for the Rangers, who claimed him from the Red Sox earlier this month.
Carp, 28, had a breakout season in part-time duty with the Red Sox in 2013, hitting .296/.362/.523. But he never got untracked in 2014, hitting poorly in a small sample in Boston and then requesting a trade. The Red Sox designated him for assignment instead, and he hit even worse while playing first base in Texas, leading to a combined .175/.289/.230 line with no home runs in 145 plate appearances. He’s making $1.4MM in his first season of arbitration eligibility.
Holland, meanwhile, is set to make his 2014 debut after missing the entire season so far after an offseason knee injury and then struggling with back spasms. It will, obviously, be too little too late for a Rangers team whose season has gone south in more ways than it possibly could have imagined, but the standout lefty’s return will surely be a welcome one in Texas.
Orioles Outright Suk-Min Yoon, Cord Phelps
The Orioles announce that they’ve outrighted pitcher Suk-min Yoon and infielder Cord Phelps. The moves open two spots on the Orioles’ 40-man roster.
Baltimore signed Yoon to a three-year deal before the season. Their total financial commitment was minimal, at $5.575MM guaranteed, but they were surely still hoping for better results than they’ve gotten so far. Yoon has pitched 90 2/3 innings for Triple-A Norfolk, posting a 5.56 ERA with 6.4 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9. He has not yet pitched in the big leagues. The Orioles owe him $1.75MM in 2015 and $2.4MM in 2016.
Yoon was a standout in Korea, but was widely regarded as having less upside than, for example, Hyun-jin Ryu, who has had success with the Dodgers. Yoon was coming off a 2013 shoulder injury and did not have dominating stuff.
The O’s designated Phelps for assignment to make room for Miguel Gonzalez earlier this week. The former Indians prospect hit .258/.358/.380 in 395 plate appearances for Norfolk this season.
Astros Claim Sam Deduno From Twins
The Astros have claimed pitcher Sam Deduno from the Twins, MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger reports (Twitter links). The Twins had placed Deduno on non-revocable waivers, so his contract now belongs to the Astros.
Deduno is already 31 and has gotten middling results this season in Minnesota, with a 4.60 ERA, 7.2 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9 in 92 innings split between the rotation and the bullpen. He also doesn’t throw particularly hard, with an average fastball velocity of just 89.7 MPH this season (though the pitch does get plenty of movement). He will not be eligible for arbitration until after next season, however, and his near-league-minimum salary and ability to start will give the Astros flexibility. He also gets plenty of ground balls, with a very high career rate of 57%.
In the short term, Deduno hasn’t pitched more than three innings in an outing since late July, so he might not be able to start right away, if that’s even what the Astros ultimately want. He has also gotten much better results as a reliever than as a starter this season, so he might fit better in a bullpen role.
Deduno briefly pitched for the Rockies and Padres before signing with Minnesota after the 2011 season, where he soaked up starts in some tough years for the Twins rotation. In parts of five seasons in the big leagues, he has a 4.24 ERA with 6.5 K/9 and 4.4 BB/9.
Tigers Designate Justin Miller For Assignment
The Tigers have designated pitcher Justin Miller for assignment, Chris Iott of MLive.com tweets. The move clears space for lefty Kyle Ryan, who will make his MLB debut tonight as the starter for the second game of a doubleheader against the White Sox.
Miller has pitched 12 1/3 innings out of the bullpen for the Tigers this season, posting a 5.11 ERA while striking out five batters and walking two. The 27-year-old righty has had a good season for Triple-A Toledo, posting a 1.81 ERA with 7.9 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 44 2/3 innings. Miller missed the 2012 season due to Tommy John surgery, then was released by the Rangers near the end of last season. He signed a minor league deal with the Tigers last September.
Minor Moves: Wilking Rodriguez, Tommy Field
Here are the day’s minor moves:
- Not long after inking him to a minor league deal, the Yankees have released righty Wilking Rodriguez, Baseball America’s Matt Eddy tweets. Rodriguez, 24, had solid minor league numbers with the Royals, but was set loose when the club acquired Josh Willingham and needed a 40-man spot. He did not make an appearance in the New York system.
- Days after being designated for assignment by the Pirates, infielder Tommy Field has been outrighted to Triple-A, according to the International League transactions page. Field was claimed by Pittsburgh from the Angles on August 10. On the year, he owns a .286/.357/.428 slash over 387 Triple-A plate appearances.
Royals Designate Bruce Chen For Assignment
The Royals have designated veteran lefty Bruce Chen for assignment, according to a tweet from Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com. Chen, a 37-year-old native of Panama, is playing on a one-year, $4.25MM deal that includes a $5.5MM option for next season ($1MM buyout).
Chen earned that deal with a strong 2013, in which he posted a 3.27 ERA over 121 innings, including 15 starts and 16 relief appearances. But he has not carried that production forward to 2014. Over 48 1/3 frames — again, evenly split between starts (7) and relief appearances (6) — Chen has allowed 7.45 earned runs per nine.
Of course, Chen’s peripherals remain largely in line with his recent marks: he has struck out batters at a 6.7 K/9 rate that matches exactly his career mean, and has walked slightly fewer batters (3.0 per nine) than he has averaged. Chen’s FIP (4.58), xFIP (4.64), and SIERA (4.43) all suggest that he has been as good or better than in years past, and should be in line for some positive regression.
Angels Outright Dane De La Rosa
The Angels have outrighted right-hander Dane De La Rosa to Triple-A after he cleared waivers, the club announced. The move clears a 40-man roster spot, though no corresponding move has been reported.
As Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register notes on Twitter, the move could theoretically be related to a trade. The Halos have not yet announced a starter for Saturday. Among the internal options, only one (Randy Wolf) would need to be given a 40-man spot, and he would not be available if he makes his planned start at Triple-A today.
The Angels added De La Rosa via trade just before the 2013 season, and rode him for 72 1/3 innings of 2.86 ERA ball last year, with 8.1 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9. But 2014 was less successful for the 31-year-old, who gave up three earned runs, three hits, and three walks in just 2 1/3 MLB innings. At Triple-A, he has worked to a 5.52 ERA over 29 1/3 frames, with 7.7 K/9 against 5.2 BB/9.
Diamondbacks Release Xavier Paul
The Diamondbacks announced that they have released outfielder Xavier Paul in order to clear a roster spot for Nolan Reimold, who was claimed off waivers from the Blue Jays yesterday.
Paul inked a minor league deal with the D’Backs earlier this month, as MLBTR’s Zach Links reported, and his contract was promptly selected from Triple-A Reno. The veteran outfielder picked up 21 plate appearances with Arizona, collecting a pair of singles and a walk along the way.
Paul’s best seasons at the plate came with the Reds from 2012-13, when he batted .264/.350/.420 with nine homers in 334 plate appearances in a part-time role. Overall, he’s a lifetime .250/.311/.368 hitter in 767 PA with the Dodgers, Reds, Pirates and D’Backs.
Rangers Release Phil Irwin
The Rangers announced that they have released right-hander Phil Irwin in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for infielder/outfielder Ryan Rua, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Round Rock. Rua will replace outfielder Jim Adduci, who has been placed on the 7-day concussion list, on the active roster.
Irwin, 27, made one appearance for the Rangers this season, making a spot start back in early July and allowed three earned runs in four innings of work. That performance was similar to the lone spot start he made with the Pirates in 2013. Those two outings combined make up the entirety of Irwin’s Major League experience, but he does have a respectable 4.15 ERA with 9.5 K/9 and 3.9 BB/9 in 104 career innings at the Triple-A level. He was on the disabled list with Round Rock prior to this transaction.
The 24-year-old Rua, a 17th-round pick of the Rangers back in the 2011 draft, has posted a combined .306/.378/.488 with 18 homers between Double-A Frisco and Triple-A Round Rock. He ranked 19th among Rangers prospects on the midseason Top 20 list compiled by Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com.