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Mets Acquire Vinny Nittoli

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4:29pm: Both teams announced the trade. Chicago receives cash in return.

7:40am: The Mets have acquired right-handed reliever Vinny Nittoli in a trade with the Cubs, per MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo. The return headed back to the Cubs is currently unknown, though it’s presumably relatively minor. The deal comes on the heels of Nittoli exercising an opt-out clause in his minor league deal with the Cubs yesterday. DiComo notes that Nittoli will be placed on New York’s 40-man roster, though the club could opt to option him to the minors once added. The Mets have two open spots on their 40-man roster, so no corresponding move will be necessary to add Nittoli.

Nittoli, 32, has just three innings of experience in the big leagues. In his MLB debut for the Mariners in 2021, Nittoli allowed two runs on two walks and a home run in one inning while striking out one. He would return to the majors in 2022, posting two scoreless innings for the Phillies across two appearances.

Outside of his major league appearances, Nittoli is a well-traveled journeyman, with time spent in the Mariners, Phillies, Blue Jays, Diamondbacks, Twins, Yankees, and Cubs organizations in addition to the independent American Association and the Mexican Pacific Winter League. In 657 1/3 innings across all professional levels, Nittoli has posted a solid 3.77 ERA.

Nittoli’s results have been far less inspiring at the Triple-A level, where he has posted a 4.92 ERA in 131 2/3 innings of work. That said, his numbers have improved for the Cubs this season, as the right-hander has posted a solid 3.48 ERA in 20 2/3 innings with a 24.4% strikeout rate and 7.8% walk rate.

Those numbers clearly intrigued the Mets, who made the decision to add him to the 40-man roster as a depth option for the club’s bullpen, which has seen mixed results this season outside of a phenomenal start from closer David Robertson. Should Nittoli be added to the club’s active roster, the right-hander figures to handle the middle innings alongside the likes of Tommy Hunter, Jeff Brigham, and Dominic Leone.

Mariners Select Mike Ford

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June 2: Ford’s selection is now official with the Mariners announcing the move today.

June 1: The Mariners are selecting the contract of first baseman Mike Ford, reports Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times (Twitter links). He adds that the move won’t be official until tomorrow but outfielder Taylor Trammell has already been optioned as the corresponding move. The club already had a 40-man roster vacancy and won’t require another move to open a spot there. Ford had triggered an opt-out in his minor league deal earlier today, giving the club 48 hours to add him to the roster or else lose him to free agency, though they’ve quickly taken the former route.

Ford, 30, gets back to the majors thanks to a torrid stretch on the farm to start this year. He signed a minor league deal with the Mariners in the winter and has 13 home runs through 49 Triple-A games so far. He’s been playing in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League but his .302/.427/.605 batting line still amounts to a 143 wRC+, indicating he’s been 43% better than league average at the plate overall. He has a 16.1% walk rate and a strikeout rate of just 14.2%.

The lefty-swinger has posted strong results in the minors before, having hit .263/.363/.493 over 365 Triple-A games for his career. But his attempts to handle major league pitching haven’t gone as well, as he’s hit .201/.301/.387 in 468 plate appearances dating back to 2019. He’s never really been given a lengthy chance, however, as he’s yet to get into more than 50 games in a big league season.

The Mariners will see if he can provided a needed jolt to their offense. The club is collectively hitting .228/.308/.381 for a wRC+ of 97. The designated hitter slot has been especially disappointing, with the club getting a collective .148/.248/.295 line out of that position. That translates to a wRC+ of 56, the worst such mark in the majors. There hasn’t been any set player in that role, as the club has largely used it to give more at-bats to their many outfielders, with Julio Rodríguez, Jarred Kelenic, Teoscar Hernández, AJ Pollock and Taylor Trammell all getting some time there. Since Ford is only really capable of playing first base and the M’s have Ty France there, Ford could take some plate appearances away from that outfield group.

Of course, the one who is most obviously squeezed out of playing time is Trammell, as he’s now headed down to the farm. He’s somewhat similar to Ford in the sense that he’s always struggled in the majors despite crushing in the minors. He’s hitting .133/.278/.333 for Seattle this year and has a .168/.269/.370 line in his big league career, striking out in 37% of his plate appearances. In Triple-A, however, he’s hit .285/.377/.495 across three different seasons. He’ll now head back there to try to get into a good groove.

The transaction is potentially significant for Trammell as he has just one option season remaining. Once he spends 20 days in the minors, that means he will officially burn that final option here in 2023 and will be out of options in 2024.

Cardinals Place Lars Nootbaar On IL With Back Injury

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The Cardinals announced that outfielder Lars Nootbaar has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 30, with a lower back contusion. His roster spot will go to fellow outfielder Jordan Walker, whose recall was reported yesterday.

Nootbaar, 25, goes to the IL for the second time this season. He landed on the shelf in early April due to a left thumb contusion. He returned in the middle of April but has sat out the past few days with back spasms, which allowed the club to backdate today’s IL stint. That means he could potentially return in a week but it will leave the club noticeably short-handed in center field in the meantime.

The Cards traded away Harrison Bader last year, seemingly confident in finding an internal replacement in center field from either Tyler O’Neill, Dylan Carlson or Nootbaar. All three of them had previous experience at the position and have been given some more time there this year, but now all three of them are on the injured list at the same time. O’Neill has been out close to a month due to a lower back strain and doesn’t seem to have made much progress in getting healthy again. Carlson has been out of action about two weeks due to an ankle injury and has yet to begin a rehab assignment.

The club is coming off unusual back-to-back off-days, meaning their most recent contest was on Tuesday. In that game, Tommy Edman went out to play center field and could perhaps continue in that role for the next week. After Tuesday’s game, he’s now up to 13 major league innings at the position. He was the club’s shortstop earlier in the year but Paul DeJong has since taken over while bouncing back from a few miserable seasons at the plate. Óscar Mercado is another option for center field work and is hitting .333/.357/.444 this year. But that’s in a small sample of 28 plate appearances and his career batting line is a far more modest .238/.291/.389.

Hopefully, the week off is enough for Nootbaar to return to action as he’s a strong all-around contributor. In 208 career games, he’s hit 23 home runs and walked in 14.2% of his plate appearances. His .241/.347/.427 batting line amounts to a wRC+ of 118. He’s also stolen 11 bases and has strong grades for his outfield defense.

Rays Designate Ben Heller For Assignment

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The Rays announced that they have designated right-hander Ben Heller for assignment. His 40-man roster spot will go to Robert Stephenson, who was acquired in a trade today. The club will also need to open an active roster spot for Stephenson whenever he reports to the team.

Heller, 31, signed a minor league deal with the Rays this winter. He had his contract selected a little over a week ago but was optioned back to Triple-A before getting into a game. He’s tossed 27 1/3 innings over 18 appearances for the Bulls this year with a 3.95 ERA, 26% strikeout rate, 6.1% walk rate and 49.4% ground ball rate.

The right-hander has 31 games of major league experience, all of which came with the Yankees. Those were scattered across the 2016 to 2020 time frame, with Heller never topping 10 appearances in any individual campaign. He has a career 2.59 ERA, though with a .253 batting average on balls in play and 98.4% strand rate, both of which are unsustainably lucky. He was cut loose prior to the 2021 season then signed a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks but a stress reaction in his elbow cost him that entire season. He was with the Twins on a minor league deal last year but was only able to make seven appearances.

The Rays will now have one week to trade Heller or try to pass him through waivers. He is in his final option season and has been getting decent results in Durham. Given the number of pitching injuries around the league, it wouldn’t be a shock if some clubs were interested in nabbing Heller for some extra bullpen depth. Since he has over three years of major league service time, he would have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency in the event he clears waivers.

Brewers Release Luke Voit

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The Brewers have released first baseman Luke Voit, reports Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. Voit had been designated for assignment earlier this week.

Voit, 32, has been on a fairly steady downward trajectory in recent years. He led the majors in home runs in 2020, launching 22 of them fo the Yankees in the shortened season. He hit .277/.338/.610 that year for a wRC+ of 153, indicating he was 53% better than league average. However, he made multiple trips to the injured list in 2021 and finished with a diminished line of .239/.328/.437, 112 wRC+.

Since the Yankees had effectively replaced him with Anthony Rizzo, they traded him to the Padres prior to 2022. But after a few months in San Diego, Voit was traded again to Washington, forming part of the Nationals’ return in the Juan Soto trade. Between the two clubs, his batting line fell again last year, ending up at .226/.308/.402, wRC+ of 102. The Nats could have retained him via arbitration but decided to non-tender him instead.

Voit ended up with the Brewers on a minor league deal and opted out late in the spring when he didn’t get a roster spot. But the Brewers circled back and signed him to a one-year, $2MM deal with incentives and a club option. Unfortunately, he hit just .221/.284/.265 through 22 games before landing on the injured list with a neck strain. He began a rehab assignment a couple of weeks ago but the club evidently didn’t want to add him back onto the roster, giving him the DFA treatment earlier this week.

Since Voit is only capable of serving as a first baseman or a designated hitter, his dwindling offense really puts a dent in his appeal. Given his recent struggles and salary commitment, it’s not a surprise that the Brewers didn’t find any club willing to take him on. Since he has over five years of major league service time, he would have been able to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency while retaining that salary, so the club has simply skipped that step and sent him back to the open market.

He will now be free to pursue opportunities with any of the other clubs. The interest will surely be muted based on his recent results, but any club that signs him would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the active roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Brewers are paying.

Rays Acquire Robert Stephenson From Pirates

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1:05pm: The Pirates have now announced the deal and that Williams has been assigned to Triple-A Indianapolis. Infielder Mark Mathias has been recalled to take Stephenson’s spot on the active roster.

12:20pm: The Rays have acquired right-hander Robert Stephenson from the Pirates, reports Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic. Minor league shortstop Alika Williams is heading the other way.

Stephenson, 30, came up as a starting pitcher for the Reds but has been converted to relief work over the past few years. The initial results of the bullpen move were positive, as he posted a 3.76 ERA over 57 appearances in 2019. Things took a downturn in the shortened 2020 season, however, with his ERA shooting up to 9.26 in 10 appearances that year. Prior to 2021, the Reds flipped him to the Rockies in exchange for Jeff Hoffman.

He then bounced back with a solid season in Denver, putting up a 3.13 ERA in 2021. He struggled again in 2022, running up a 6.04 ERA through August before he was designated for assignment and landed with the Pirates. He was able to finish on a high note with a 3.38 ERA in ten appearances for the Bucs down the stretch.

Here in 2023, he began the season on the injured list due to elbow inflammation but was able to return in the middle of April.  He’s since made 18 appearances but has a 5.14 ERA in those. He’s still getting punchouts at a similar rate but his control seems to have fallen off this year. He struck out 26.8% of opponents from 2019 to 2022 and walked 7.9% but those figures are 27.9% and 13.1% this year.

That’s a small sample size but Stephenson has shown himself to be fairly inconsistent in his career, with notable swings in his effectiveness. Nonetheless, the Rays will take a shot on helping him harness his stuff. Given their track record of helping flawed pitchers get the best of their arsenals, it wouldn’t be a total shock to see Stephenson get back on track in Tampa.

Despite their reputation for producing an endless stream of quality relievers, they have had some bullpen struggles this year. They have five relievers currently on the injured list, which is putting a strain on their depth. The relief group as a whole has a collective 4.32 ERA on the season, a mark that places them 22nd out of the 30 clubs in the league. They have been looking in various places for reinforcements, including calling up several arms from their own system as well signing Jake Diekman after he was released by the White Sox. Now they will add Stephenson as well to see if he can be part of the solution as they try to hold onto the top spot in the cutthroat AL East. He will just be a short-term piece, however, since he’s slated for free agency this winter.

As for Williams, 24, he was the 38th overall selection in the 2020 draft. He has generally been considered one of Tampa’s top 30 prospects in the past few years, with his speed and defense standing out as his best qualities. The key question has been whether or not his bat would allow him to complement those skills. So far, the results there have been somewhat tepid. He hit .267/.312/.375 in 2021 across three different levels, producing a wRC+ of 86. Last year, he got his line up to .249/.353/.377 for a wRC+ of 104, spending most of his time in High-A. He’s been in Double-A this year, hitting .237/.314/.417 for a wRC+ of 101.

Williams isn’t a star prospect but he comes with a solid floor given his athletic abilities. Any offensive development would be a nice bonus for the Bucs, not a bad outcome for a struggling reliever that they grabbed off waivers less than a year ago.

White Sox Designate Hanser Alberto For Assignment

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The White Sox announced a series of roster moves today, reinstating right-hander Mike Clevinger and infielder Elvis Andrus from the injured list. In corresponding moves, they optioned right-hander Jesse Scholtens and designated infielder Hanser Alberto for assignment.

The White Sox haven’t had a good solution for second base for most of the year. Andrus was signed with the idea of slotting him next to Tim Anderson but Anderson ended up missing most of April due to a knee sprain. Andrus slid over to short to cover for him but hit just .201/.280/.254 before going on the IL himself due to an oblique strain about three weeks ago.

With Andrus out of action of late, the club has tried a couple of different players. Jake Burger had been playing third base, covering for the injured Yoán Moncada, and hit well enough that the club has considered moving him over to second base now that Moncada is back. He has 11 home runs in 40 games this year and an overall batting line of .270/.314/.603, leading to a 145 wRC+. Given that output, it’s unsurprising that the club wants his bat in the lineup, but he’s still only been entrusted with two innings at the keystone so far this year. Another option is Romy González, who had a terrible start to the season but has been on fire lately. He had a dismal .103/.103/.103 line through April 25 but has hit .286/.295/.667 since that time.

Manager Pedro Grifol recently spoke to James Fegan of The Athletic about the situation, essentially saying that the club will try to ride the hot hand. “I don’t think I’m going to be mixing and matching at second base,” Grifol said. “We need to win baseball games so if somebody’s playing as well as Romy (Gonzalez) is playing, then he’s going to play. If Elvis comes in and he does what he can do, then he’s going to play. Those are conversations that I’ll have with whoever’s involved and we’re going to put the best team on the field that’s going to help us win a baseball game every day.”

With the club suddenly juggling multiple options for the second base position, it has squeezed Alberto out of the picture. Signed to a minor league deal in the offseason, he made the club’s Opening Day roster to serve as a bench piece. He has since played in 30 games for the club, around a two-week IL stint due to a quad strain, but has hit just .220/.261/.390. That’s not too far off from his career line of .269/.292/.381, but it seems the Sox will roll with the younger and more exciting players in Burger and González.

The Sox will now have a week to trade Alberto or pass him through waivers. He has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and retain his $2.3MM salary. Given that financial commitment and his tepid production this season, it seems likely he simply ends up released in the coming days.

Brewers Sign Roman Quinn To Minor League Deal

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The Brewers recently signed outfielder Roman Quinn to a minor league deal, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He’s already reported to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds and played in a couple of games for that club.

Quinn, 30, was once a highly-rated prospect with the Phillies as his speed and defense gave him a very high floor. While he also hit well in the minors, he hasn’t yet found success against major league pitching. Going back to his debut in 2016, he has a career batting line of .226/.303/.348 in 599 plate appearances, striking out at a 30.4% rate.

He stayed with the Phillies through the end of 2021 but lost his roster spot at the end of that year and has gone into journeyman mode since then. He jumped to the Marlins and then back to the Phillies on minor league deals in early 2022. He got back to the big leagues with the Phils for a time but wound up back on the free market after a little more than a month. That led to another minor league deal with the Royals and then a major league deal with the Rays, though he landed on the injured list after about a month with Tampa and wasn’t able to return.

He lost his roster spot at the end of last year and signed a minor league deal with the Guardians this winter. Unfortunately, he hit just .176/.391/.235 in 15 Triple-A games before getting released, which is what allowed him to join the Brewers on yet another minors deal.

The Brewers have dealt with some issues in their outfield this year, particularly in center. Garrett Mitchell was expected to be the everyday option up the middle but he required shoulder surgery in April that could potentially keep him out for the remainder of the year. Prospect Sal Frelick also isn’t an option as he’s still rehabbing from April thumb surgery. That’s left the position in the hands of Joey Wiemer, who has provided excellent defense and stolen nine bases but is hitting just .199/.261/.348 on the year.

Quinn will give the club some experienced non-roster depth while trying to get into a good groove at the plate. Should he eventually earn his way back to the big leagues, he is out of options but could be retained for future seasons via arbitration since he has just over four years of major league service time.

Diamondbacks Outright Peter Solomon

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The Diamondbacks have sent right-hander Peter Solomon outright to the Triple-A Reno Aces, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week.

Solomon, 26, was once an intriguing prospect in the Astros’ system, having been drafted by that club in the fourth round in 2017. However, he required Tommy John surgery in 2019 and then the minor leagues were canceled by the pandemic in 2020, leading to a significant gap in his development. He seemed to get back on track in 2021, posting a 4.70 ERA for Triple-A Sugar Land in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He also made his major league debut with a 1.29 ERA in six relief appearances.

In 2022, the Astros kept him in the minors and his results took a step back. His ERA ticked up to 5.20 and his peripherals went in the wrong direction at Triple-A as well. His 26.3% strikeout rate from 2021 dropped to 20.5% and his walk rate went from 9.9% to 10.2%. He was put on waivers in September and was claimed by the Pirates. He made four appearances for their Triple-A club as the season was winding down but was outrighted at season’s end.

He came to the Diamondbacks this winter via the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft. He was selected to the big league roster in early April but was shelled for a 12.15 ERA in five long relief outings. He got optioned back to Triple-A Reno but has posted a 9.69 ERA for that club. The club needed a roster spot when prospect Kristian Robinson was coming off the restricted list and Solomon was the casualty.

Since Solomon has a previous career outright, he has the right to reject this assignment and elect free agency, though it’s not publicly known if he has chosen to do so.

KBO’s Hanwha Eagles Release Brian O’Grady

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The Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization released first baseman/corner outfielder Brian O’Grady this week, as noted by Jee-ho Yoo of Yonhap News. He returns to free agency while the Eagles explore options for a new foreign-born player to take the vacated roster spot.

O’Grady signed with the Eagles over the winter. He struggled immensely in his limited work. O’Grady punched out 40 times against five walks in 86 plate appearances. He had only three extra-base hits (all doubles) and compiled a .125/.174/.163 batting line. With a limit of three foreign players on KBO rosters, the Eagles didn’t have much time to afford O’Grady a longer leash.

The Rutgers product has spent parts of three seasons in the majors. Between the Reds, Rays and Padres, he hit .184/.283/.388 in 62 games from 2019-21. He’s been much better at the Triple-A level, positing a .284/.362/.551 slash in just shy of 1000 plate appearances. O’Grady also spent a year in Japan with the Seibu Lions, putting up a .213/.312/.380 line in 2022.

Now that he’s a free agent, O’Grady could look for affiliated ball opportunities. He’d surely be limited to minor league offers given his KBO numbers but has a strong enough minor league track record to potentially attract teams looking for left-handed hitting depth.

Hanwha made a change on the pitching staff in April, signing Ricardo Sánchez while letting go of Burch Smith. Sánchez and right-hander Félix Peña are the two foreign players currently on the roster.

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