Pirates Designate Matt Hague For Assignment
The Pirates have designated Matt Hague for assignment and placed right-hander Stolmy Pimentel on the disabled list in order to clear roster space for the recently acquired John Axford, tweets Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Hague, a 28-year-old infielder, went 0-for-2 in his only two plate appearances for the Buccos in 2014. In a previous stint back in 2012, he batted .229/.270/.257 in 74 plate appearances — his only other Major League experience. The former ninth-rounder and Oklahama State product has been solid for Triple-A Indianapolis this season, batting .267/.365/.448 with 14 homers in 386 PA.
Mets Re-Sign Bobby Abreu
The Mets announced (on Twitter) that they have re-signed Bobby Abreu to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Las Vegas. The 40-year-old veteran has already appeared in 67 games for the Mets this season after signing a minor league contract at the end of March. New York designated him for assignment and released him earlier this month.
Abreu slashed .238/.331/.336 with one homer in 142 plate appearances for the Mets earlier this year. He raked in 45 plate appearances at Triple-A before being promoted to the big league club, hitting .395/.489/.579. Prior to hooking on with the Mets this season, Abreu had inked a minor league deal with the Phillies, a team with which he enjoyed some of his best seasons, but Philadelphia cut him loose late in Spring Training despite a respectable showing.
Pirates Acquire John Axford
The Pirates have officially acquired righty John Axford from the Indians, the clubs have announced. Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported the transaction (via Twitter). Axford, 31, joined Cleveland on a one-year, $4.5MM free agent contract after being non-tendered by the Cardinals.
Pittsburgh added the righty through a straight waiver claim , tweets ESPN.com’s Buster Olney. That means the club will be on the hook for the approximately $1.1MM that he is still owed this year, though it will not need to part with any young talent to add the veteran arm.
On the year, Axford has posted a 3.92 ERA with 10.5 K/9 but a troubling 6.5 BB/9 over 43 2/3 innings. He does have a career-best 54.1% groundball rate, but advanced metrics have not been impressed on the whole (4.71 FIP, 3.98 xFIP, 3.80 SIERA). Axford opened the season as the Cleveland closer, and picking up ten saves in the process, but lost the job with inconsistent performance. He has been much better of late, though saw his ERA jump 78 points in his last outing (August 8th) when he gave up four earned runs on three hits and an ill-timed home run.
Axford has now been dealt in August for the second time in as many seasons. Last year, the one-time Brewers closer moved from Milwaukee to St. Louis in late August. Though Axford has two years of arbitration eligibility remaining, it seems rather likely that he will be a non-tender candidate once again. As with Ernesto Frieri, who was recently acquired and later outrighted by the Pirates, early-career save opportunities make it difficult to justify tendering contracts to non-elite bullpen arms.
For the Bucs, Axford represents another attempt to shore up a pen that has failed to match last year’s unit, which was third in baseball with a collective 2.89 ERA. In 2014, the Pittsburgh relief corps has put up a negative fWAR tally and combined to allow 3.52 earned per nine.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Minor Moves: Francoeur, Sexton, Figgins, Krill
Here are the minor moves of the day …
- The Padres tweet that Jeff Francoeur has cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A El Paso. Frenchy was designated for assignment earlier this week after struggling with the big league club, but the former NL Rookie of the Year candidate has performed quite well at the Triple-A level this season.
- Former Padres farmhand Tim Sexton has inked a minor league deal with the Athletics, according to Midland RockHounds assistant GM of media relations Greg Bergman (h/t: Melissa Lockard of OaklandClubhouse.com). Sexton, a 27-year-old right-hander, has a 5.90 ERA in 58 innings between Double-A and Triple-A this season, and he has a lifetime 6.68 ERA at the Triple-A level. He’s been much better at Double-A, however, with a 4.40 ERA, 6.9 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 in 188 1/3 innings at that level.
- The Dodgers have requested unconditional released waivers on utilityman Chone Figgins, the club announced. The veteran was designated for assignment last Wednesday. He has reached base at an impressive .373 clip on the year, but has slugged only .267 over his 76 plate appearances.
- The Giants have released outfielder Brett Krill, according to the PCL transactions page. Krill, 25, struggled at all levels this year, including his first attempt at Triple-A. His aggregate triple-slash on the season is .191/.260/.253 over 197 plate appearances. Krill has seen his offensive production decline steadily as he has moved up in the system over the last four years.
Angels Outright Caleb Clay
The Angels announced that right-hander Caleb Clay has cleared outright waivers and been removed from the 40-man roster (Twitter link). The Halos signed Clay away from the Korea Baseball Organization’s Hanwha Eagles back in June.
Clay, 26, was a supplemental-round draft pick (44th overall) by the Red Sox back in the 2006 draft. He struggled a great deal in Korea this season, pitching to an 8.32 ERA, but he seems to have righted the ship in eight starts for Anaheim’s Triple-A affiliate. In 52 1/3 innings at Salt Lake, he’s posted a 3.78 ERA with 5.8 K/9 and 1.7 BB/9. He has, however, been homer-prone in that time, serving up eight long balls in that relatively small sample size.
Cubs Request Release Waivers On Nate Schierholtz
AUG. 13: The Cubs have placed Schierholtz on release waivers, tweets Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune. He will officially be a free agent when he clears on Friday.
AUG. 6: The Cubs have designated outfielder Nate Schierholtz for assignment, tweets Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune. With the move, roster space was created for Kyuji Fujikawa‘s activation from the 60-day DL.
Schierholtz, a 30-year-old left-handed hitter, was playing on a $5MM salary this season in his final year of arbitration eligibility. Unless Chicago can find a taker for all or part of that figure, they’ll be on the hook for most (if not all) of the money left owing.
The veteran of eight MLB campaigns had struggled to a .192/.240/.300 slash through 341 plate appearances this year, after posting a strong .251/.301/.470 line in 503 trips to bat in 2013. He had actually turned in three straight seasons with above-average OPS marks before hitting a wall this year.
Pirates Designate Wirfin Obispo For Assignment
The Pirates announced that they have designated right-hander Wirfin Obispo for assignment in order to make room for catcher Ramon Cabrera, who was claimed off waivers from the Tigers earlier today. Cabrera will report to Double-A Altoona, according to a team release from the Pirates.
The Pirates claimed Obispo, 29, off waivers from the Braves back in June, and he’s pitched rather well for their Triple-A affiliate. In 25 2/3 innings with Indianapolis, Obispo has posted a 3.16 ERA with 8.4 K/9, though he’s posted a fairly high 4.6 BB/9 rate as well. He struggled to a 4.66 ERA with the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate and has a 3.80 ERA on the season as a whole between the two clubs. Obispo has never reached the Major League level, but he’s turned in a combined 4.01 ERA over the past three seasons at Triple-A, averaging 9.1 strikeouts and 5.3 walks per nine innings pitched.
Yankees Designate Chris Leroux For Assignment
The Yankees have designated righty Chris Leroux for assignment, the club announced via press release. His roster spot will go to Michael Pineda, who was activated from the 60-day DL for today’s start.
This is the third time in DFA limbo on the year for Leroux, who most recently was designated and then outrighted just over two weeks ago. Despite all that activity, he has made only two appearances with New York on the year. The 30-year-old has been knocked around in the two innings he has tossed, surrendering seven hits and five earned runs while striking out three and walking two. A veteran of parts of six MLB seasons, Leroux has fared better in the minors thus far in 2014 (4.01 ERA in 49 1/3 innings).
Pirates Claim Ramon Cabrera
The Pirates have claimed catcher Ramon Cabrera off waivers from the Tigers, Jason Beck of MLB.com reports on Twitter. Cabrera was placed on waivers after being designated for assignment to create 40-man space for the promotion of spot starter Buck Farmer, Beck adds.
The 24-year-old backstop came to Detroit from Pittsburgh in a winter swap for starter Andy Oliver. Now he’ll head back to the organization that signed him out of Venezuela. For the Tigers, the loss of a young player like Cabrera represents one of the somewhat under-appreciated downsides to being surprised with the need to add a player to the 40-man.
The Pirates should have a good handle on the player they are getting back, since he spent five years in their system. Cabrera was rated Detroit’s 27th-best prospect coming into the year by Baseball America, with the publication calling him a high-contact, low-power, low-speed offensive player who is still below average behind the dish. According to BA, his upside is to produce along the lines of Josh Thole. Over 431 plate appearances at the Double-A level this year, Cabrera owns a .277/.329/.358 triple-slash.
Blue Jays Claim Colt Hynes
The Blue Jays have claimed lefty Colt Hynes off waivers from the Dodgers, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reports on Twitter. Hynes, 29, was designated for assignment on Sunday to clear roster space for Kevin Correia.
Hynes has spent the entire season to date at Triple-A, working to a 4.08 ERA across 53 innings of relief, with 7.8 K/9 against 1.7 BB/9. He has limited MLB experience, with just 22 appearances to his credit last year with the Padres. Unsurprisingly, Hynes was much better against same-handed hitters, though the actual split (.602 OPS by lefties; 1.260 OPS by righties) is rather dramatic.