D-backs, Matt Beaty Agree To Minor League Deal
The D-backs have agreed to a minor league contract with first baseman/outfielder Matt Beaty, as noted on the transaction log at MiLB.com. Beaty is now listed on the roster for Arizona’s Double-A affiliate in Amarillo.
Beaty, 31, is making his rounds through the National League West, having been drafted/developed by the Dodgers, who then traded him to the Padres in 2022. He also got into four games with the Giants last season, so the Snakes will be his fourth NL West club if he reaches the MLB level at any point.
In 675 big league plate appearances dating back to 2019, Beaty is a .247/.323/.394 hitter with 18 homers, a 16.7% strikeout rate and a 7% walk rate rate. Most of the former 12th-round pick’s production came during a 2021 showing with the Dodgers that saw him post a hearty .270/.363/.402 line in 234 trips to the plate. Beaty has struggled mightily since that time, hitting just .173/.277/.240 in a small sample of 119 plate appearances between the Padres, Giants and Royals.
In addition to last year’s sparse big league work, Beaty spent 44 games in Triple-A between Omaha (Royals) and Sacramento (Giants), slashing a combined .279/.395/.455. That level of production is par for the course for Beaty in the upper minors. He’s played in parts of five Triple-A seasons and sports a .287/.386/.421 line overall, thanks largely to excellent contact skills (15% strikeout rate) and a keen eye at the plate (9.2% walk rate).
The Diamondbacks have been one of baseball’s least-productive teams against right-handed pitching, which the left-handed-hitting Beaty handles far better than he does fellow southpaws. D-backs hitters have logged a combined .224/.308/.357 against righties, sitting 25th in the majors by measure of wRC+ (92).
Joc Pederson has absolutely feasted on right-handed pitching, while Christian Walker and Gabriel Moreno have provided strong on-base marks against right-handers. However, the D-backs have received poor production against righties from veteran Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and even more surprisingly from lefty-swinging Corbin Carroll, whose overall output at the plate this season has been shockingly anemic. Lefty bench bat Pavin Smith has struggled as well and (barring a turnaround) would seemingly be the most at risk if Beaty shows well in the minors. Any such decision is likely a ways off, however. Beaty hasn’t played yet this season — his Instagram reveals he and his wife welcomed a child midway through the offseason while he was a minor league free agent — and he will presumably need some time to ramp up before he’d even be considered a big league option.
Guardians Designate Ramon Laureano For Assignment
The Guardians have designated outfielder Ramon Laureano for assignment, tweets Zack Meisel of The Athletic. In his place, the team is promoting outfield prospect Johnathan Rodriguez for his MLB debut. Rodriguez is already on the 40-man roster, so the move also frees up a 40-man spot for Cleveland. Guardians Prospective first reported that Rodriguez was getting the call to the big leagues.
Laureano, 29, came to the Guardians early last August after the A’s placed him on waivers in hopes of finding a taker for the remainder of last season’s salary. The Guardians obliged, hoping that Laureano would provide a boost down the stretch as they tried to keep pace in the American League Central. The veteran did provide a bit of offense, hitting .243/.342/.382 following the claim (106 wRC+), but the Guards wound up missing the postseason.
It was something of a surprise to see a budget-conscious team like Cleveland tender Laureano a contract this winter. He wound up agreeing to a $5.15MM salary, which amounted to a significant portion of the Guardians’ very limited offseason resources. The team made that commitment despite Laureano having turned in a bleak .224/.304/.371 slash (91 wRC+) on the season overall — and a .218/.296/.373 batting line in 2022-23 combined (93 wRC+).
The decision didn’t go at all as the Cleveland front office or the player himself hoped. Laureano’s strikeout rate has absolutely erupted to a career-worst 38.6% this season. He’s hitting just .143/.265/.229, albeit in a small sample of 83 plate appearances. Just four of his 10 hits have gone for extra bases (one homer, three doubles). The Guardians will have a week to try to trade Laureano, place him on outright waivers or release him.
Given the pronounced nature of Laureano’s struggles at the dish and his relatively notable salary, they won’t find a trade market for his services. Laureano is overwhelmingly unlikely to be claimed on waivers due to that salary and will thus likely clear and become a free agent. He has enough service time to retain all of his salary even if he rejects an outright assignment in favor of free agency.
Earlier in his career, Laureano was a quality regular in Oakland. From 2018-21, he turned in a sound .263/.335/.465 batting line (119 wRC+) with 49 homers and 34 steals over the life of 1257 plate appearances. That came while playing strong defense across all three outfield spots. Laureano was an oft-rumored trade candidate and might well have been part of Oakland’s fire sale, but an 80-game PED suspension midway through the 2021 season tanked his value. That proved all the more costly, as his suspension surely played a role in pushing the A’s to part with left-hander Jesus Luzardo to acquire Starling Marte from the Marlins in a rental deal while Oakland made a push for the postseason.
As for the 24-year-old Rodriguez, he’ll step into the Cleveland outfield for his MLB debut after hitting .276/.389/.449 in 185 Triple-A plate appearances this season. The 2017 third-rounder entered the season ranked 23rd among Guarda farmhands at Baseball America, 16th at MLB.com and 30th at FanGraphs.
The 6’0″, 225-pound Rodriguez draws praise for his plus raw power but also some skepticism for his penchant to chase and whiff. He’s walked in a huge 15.7% of his plate appearances in Triple-A Columbus but also fanned at a 25.4% clip. That’s a suboptimal mark against Triple-A pitching but also a marked improvement over 2023’s 32.4% strikeout rate in 202 Triple-A plate appearances. Rodriguez is a former switch-hitter who now bats exclusively from the right side of the plate. He popped 29 homers between Double-A and Triple-A last season, and he’s already slugged seven long balls on the season.
Strikeouts will likely continue to be a part of his game, but probably not to the extremes that Laureano experienced this season. Rodriguez will also add some legitimate thump to a Cleveland lineup that in recent years has been light on power but is turning a corner this season. Thanks in part to a big step forward from emerging star Josh Naylor, the Guards rank ninth in the majors with 51 big flies on the season. Rodriguez gives them another power bat. He won’t be nearly as strong a defender in the outfield corners as Laureano was, but MLB.com pegs him as a potentially average right fielder and Baseball America touts his plus throwing arm.
Giants Sign Donny Sands To Minor League Deal
The Giants recently signed catcher Donny Sands to a minor league contract. The 28-year-old made his organizational debut with Triple-A Sacramento on Sunday, going 0-5 with three strikeouts.
That was Sands’ first affiliated action of the 2024 season. The Tigers released him at the end of March. Sands subsequently had a brief stint in Mexico, suiting up in 16 games for the Toros de Tijuana. He hit .245/.339/.490 with four home runs to earn another crack at Triple-A pitching.
Sands spent most of last year with Detroit’s top affiliate in Toledo. Acquired over the 2022-23 offseason alongside Matt Vierling and Nick Maton in the deal sending Gregory Soto to Philadelphia, Sands slumped to a .225/.318/.353 batting line in 371 plate appearances with the Mud Hens. He never appeared in an MLB game with Detroit. The Tigers outrighted Sands from the 40-man roster in January and released him after he went 1-8 in Spring Training.
To this point in his career, Sands has appeared in just three major league games — all of which came with the Phillies in 2022. He’ll add short-term cover for a team dealing with a couple injuries behind the plate. Patrick Bailey is on the concussion injured list. Tom Murphy will be out until at least July because of a sprained left knee.
The Giants signed Curt Casali to a big league deal late last week. He and Blake Sabol are sharing the catching duties at the MLB level until Bailey returns. Jakson Reetz, who is on the 40-man roster, is on optional assignment to Sacramento. Sands joins him with the River Cats as a potential competitor for the third catcher role.
Nabil Crismatt Elects Free Agency
Reliever Nabil Crismatt elected free agency over the weekend after going unclaimed on waivers, according to the transaction log at MLB.com. The Dodgers had designated the right-hander for assignment last week when they selected Elieser Hernández onto the big league roster.
Crismatt had two brief stays on the Los Angeles roster. The Colombian-born righty inked a minor league deal in December and was twice selected onto the MLB team. He tossed seven innings of low-leverage relief through five appearances. Crismatt allowed three runs (two earned) on seven hits. He struck out six and didn’t issue a walk. Between his MLB stints, he tossed 12 2/3 frames over four appearances with Triple-A Oklahoma City. While Crismatt allowed eight earned runs on three homers in the Pacific Coast League, he fanned 15 without walking anyone.
The 29-year-old is looking to reestablish himself as a valuable long reliever in a major league bullpen. Crismatt played that role for the Padres very effectively between 2021-22, combining for a 3.39 ERA across 148 2/3 innings. He was hit hard over 13 MLB frames with San Diego and the Diamondbacks last season, leading him to clear waivers a few times over the past calendar year.
Crismatt should be able to land a minor league deal in the coming days. While he doesn’t throw hard, his command and ability to work multiple innings make him a solid non-roster relief option.
Dodgers Designate Eduardo Salazar For Assignment
The Dodgers announced they’ve designated right-hander Eduardo Salazar for assignment. They needed to create a 40-man roster spot for Yohan Ramírez, whom they acquired from the Mets this morning. Los Angeles optioned Landon Knack to Triple-A Oklahoma City to open a spot on the active roster.
Los Angeles signed Salazar to a minor league deal early last offseason. The 26-year-old cracked the big league roster in April. He only made it into one game, tossing two scoreless innings of relief. Salazar has otherwise spent the season in OKC. He has worked out of the rotation at the top minor league level. Salazar has taken the ball seven times and thrown 33 2/3 innings. He has allowed 5.61 earned runs per nine with a well below-average 13.7% strikeout rate.
To his credit, Salazar has kept the ball on the ground at a huge 58.6% clip in Oklahoma City. He posted similar numbers last season as a member of the Cincinnati organization. Salazar had a 51.1% grounder rate in eight MLB appearances with the Reds. He induced worm-burners at a 54.8% clip for their Triple-A team in Louisville, but a subpar 16.1% strikeout rate contributed to him allowing more than a run per inning.
The Dodgers have a week to trade Salazar or put him on waivers. The Venezuela native went unclaimed on outright waivers after being designated by Cincinnati last summer. That gives him the right to decline any additional outright assignments in his career, so he’d be able to elect free agency if he clears again.
Royals Designate Matt Sauer For Assignment
The Royals have designated right-hander Matt Sauer for assignment and selected the contract of left-handed reliever Sam Long from Triple-A Omaha, per a team announcement. Sauer was selected out of the Yankees organization in December’s Rule 5 Draft. The Royals will have a week to trade him or place him on waivers, and if he goes unclaimed he must be offered back to the Yankees for $50K. If he lands with a new team, his Rule 5 restrictions will roll over to that new club.
A second-round pick by the Yankees back in 2017, the now-25-year-old Sauer made his big league debut when he first took the mound for Kansas City this season. He held opponents to just two runs through his first 9 1/3 MLB innings but did so with an ugly ratio of just four strikeouts to eight walks. The lack of command and a put-away pitch proved problematic in the weeks since. Dating back to April 29, Sauer has been torched for a dozen runs in seven innings.
Overall, Sauer pitched 16 1/3 innings for the Royals and yielded a 7.71 ERA. He fanned only 10.7% of his opponents against an ugly 13.1% walk rate in that time. Were the Royals at or near the bottom of the division, perhaps they’d have been more patient, but at 29-19 on the year and standing in second place, Kansas City clearly felt that they couldn’t continue the experiment if it meant getting such minimal production out of a bullpen spot.
Long, 28, has spent the past three seasons in the majors with the Giants (2021-22) and A’s (2023). He’ s pitched 128 innings for the two Bay Area clubs, logging a 4.92 ERA with an 18.5% strikeout rate, 9% walk rate and 40.5% grounder rate. The southpaw averages 93.8 mph on his heater and couples that four-seamer with a curveball as his primary breaking pitch. Long used a changeup quite a bit during his Giants days but swapped that out for a slider with Oakland last season.
Though he doesn’t have a great track record in the majors, Long has been nails with the Royals’ Omaha affiliate this season. In 20 2/3 innings, he’s pitched to a tiny 1.31 ERA with an impressive 27.4% strikeout rate against a 6% walk rate. He hasn’t given up run since April 25, rattling off 8 1/3 shutout innings with nine punchouts and just one walk during that hot streak.
Long opened the season on a similarly impressive run of nine straight scoreless frames with a 12-to-3 K/BB ratio. Add in 8 2/3 innings of one-run ball with a 48.4% strikeout rate and 3.2% walk rate in spring training (15-to-1 K/BB), and it’s become increasingly difficult for the Royals to overlook his contributions to date.
Brewers Designate Thyago Vieira For Assignment, Promote Bradley Blalock
The Brewers announced Monday that right-hander Thyago Vieira has been designated for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to right-hander Bradley Blalock, who’s been called up from Double-A Biloxi for what will be his MLB debut. Milwaukee also optioned outfielder Chris Roller to Triple-A Nashville and reinstated fellow outfielder Joey Wiemer from the injured list.
Vieira, 30, is one of the game’s hardest-throwing pitchers, averaging 98 mph on his heater this season and frequently touching triple digits. However, he’s been scored upon in nine of his 16 appearances this season, resulting in a 5.64 ERA over 22 1/3 innings. While Vieira has fanned a solid 23.6% of his opponents, he’s also walked 12.3% of the batters he’s faced. Even more troublesome has been his penchant for loud contact. Opponents have belted six homers off him already this year — an average of 2.42 round-trippers per nine frames.
One of just five Brazilian-born players in big league history, Vieira had a nice run with the Yomiuri Giants of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball from 2020-22. He’s been with the Brewers since returning stateside and had brief looks with the Mariners (one inning in 2017) and White Sox (24 2/3 innings from 2018-19) prior to that. Overall, the flamethrowing righty has pitched 51 MLB frames and surrendered a 6.18 ERA with a 21.2% strikeout rate and 11.6% walk rate. The Brewers will have a week to trade him, attempt to pass him through outright waivers, or release him.
Blalock, 23, was a 32nd-round pick by the Red Sox in 2019 who was traded from Boston to Milwaukee in last year’s Luis Urias swap. The right-hander has elevated his status considerably since that humble draft selection, never more so than in 2024, when he’s opened the season with seven starts of 2.27 ERA ball at the Double-A level. That marks Blalock’s first action above A-ball. He’s fanned a below-average 20.6% of his opponents this year but posted an excellent 5% walk rate and roughly average 43.1% ground-ball rate.
Entering the 2024 season, Blalock ranked 13th among Milwaukee farmhands at FanGraphs, 17th at MLB.com and 22nd at Baseball America. The righty draws praise for his above-average command, a fastball that sits 92-96 mph and a smattering of average or nearly average secondary offerings (slider, split-change, curveball). FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen likens his upside to that of a Jose Urquidy type of back-end starter who could shift to a long-relief role on a playoff roster.
The Brewers don’t need a starter in the coming days, but Blalock will be on hand to give them some length in the event of a short start from righty Joe Ross today. It’s also possible he could slot into an injury-plagued staff within the next few days. Ross is slated to pitch today, with rookie Robert Gasser on the mound tomorrow and Freddy Peralta to follow Wednesday. Milwaukee is off Thursday and then set to go Bryse Wilson, Colin Rea and Ross again for their upcoming weekend slate in Boston, where Blalock could potentially face the organization that drafted him.
With Brandon Woodruff, Wade Miley, Jakob Junis and DL Hall all on the injured list at the moment, the Brewers have been patching things together in the starting staff. Even if he’s not stepping into the rotation right now, it’s possible Blalock could eventually be called upon to start some games later in the summer.
Astros, Eric Lauer Agree To Minor League Deal
2:22pm: Lauer will be paid at a prorated $1.5MM base salary if he’s selected to the MLB roster, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC-2. His deal also contains opt-out dates on July 1 and August 1 if he’s not on the big league roster prior to those points.
2:04pm: The Astros and Lauer are in agreement on a minor league contract, per Rome. The CAA client is headed to Triple-A Sugar Land for now, but given the state of the back of Houston’s rotation, he could emerge as an option before long if he looks sharp to begin his time in the organization.
1:40pm: The Astros are showing interest in free agent left-hander Eric Lauer, reports Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. The former Brewers and Padres southpaw opted out of a minor league contract with the Pirates last week. As Rome further points out, Houston GM Dana Brown worked in the Blue Jays’ scouting department when they drafted Lauer out of high school in 2013. Lauer wound up choosing to go to college, which paid off handsomely; the Jays tabbed him in the 17th round of the ’13 draft, but three years later the Padres selected him with the No. 25 overall pick.
The 28-year-old Lauer (29 in June) debuted with the Padres in 2018 and spent the next two seasons on San Diego’s staff before being traded to Milwaukee alongside infielder Luis Urias in exchange for righty Zach Davies and outfielder Trent Grisham.
After three rather nondescript seasons in the majors from 2018-20, Lauer added a slider to his arsenal in early 2021 and looked to be breaking out as a high-end rotation option. He posted a 3.19 ERA and fanned 24% of his opponents in 118 2/3 innings that season (including a 2.41 ERA following the addition of that new breaking pitch). He continued his success into 2022 and wound up combining for 277 1/3 innings of 3.47 ERA ball with a 23.8% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate across those two seasons.
Shoulder and elbow injuries for Lauer popped up in 2022-23, and his health looked like a particular hindrance last season. Lauer’s average fastball plummeted from 93.3 mph in 2022 to 91.2 mph last season. In 46 2/3 innings, he was rocked for a 6.56 ERA with a diminished 20.4% strikeout rate against an elevated 10.4% walk rate. The Brewers optioned the southpaw to Triple-A in an effort to get him back on track, but Lauer was roughed up for a 5.15 ERA with their Nashville affiliate as well.
Lauer opened the 2024 season with the Pirates’ Triple-A club after signing a minor league deal late in the offseason. He pitched well for the bulk of hiss time there, although his ERA spiked from 3.95 to 5.52 after his final appearance, when he was tagged for six runs in just two innings of work. The left-hander’s 29.1% strikeout rate and 8.7% walk rate, however, looked far more like the 2021-22 version of Lauer than the 2023 version — an encouraging sign for the Astros or any other interested parties. It’s also worth noting that Lauer has 4.111 years of MLB service, meaning if he lands in Houston and is eventually added to the roster, he’d be controllable through 2025 via arbitration.
Houston could certainly use some rotation depth, so a pursuit of Lauer makes sense. Strong starting pitching has been a hallmark of the Astros in recent years, but the Houston rotation currently ranks 21st in the majors with 239 1/3 innings pitched and 26th with a 4.96 ERA. Astros starters have similarly uninspiring marks in FIP (4.61, ranking 28th), strikeout rate (21%, ranking 21st) and walk rate (11%, the second-highest in MLB).
Those struggles come in spite of a breakout performance from right-hander Ronel Blanco, who threw first no-hitter of the 2024 season earlier this year. The Astros have Lance McCullers Jr., Luis Garcia and Jose Urquidy on the injured list at the moment, and they’ve also seen Justin Verlander, Cristian Javier and Framber Valdez all spend time on the shelf.
Former top prospect Hunter Brown and fellow sophomore righty J.P. France have both had brutal starts to the season, and in-house reinforcements like Spencer Arrighetti and Blair Henley have both been hit hard. At the moment, the ‘Stros have a full complement of Verlander, Valdez, Javier and Blanco healthy in the first four spots of the rotation. That’s a boon in and of itself, but the club still has to keep trying to get at least one of Brown, France or Arrighetti on track — or else find a more palatable option from outside the organization. If a deal comes together, Lauer could eventually factor into the group before long, considering each of Brown, France, Arrighetti and Henley has an ERA of at least 7.16 on the season.
Mets Release Joey Wendle
The Mets have released veteran infielder Joey Wendle, tweets Mike Puma of the New York Post. He was designated for assignment last week.
The 34-year-old Wendle signed a one-year, $2MM deal with the Mets in free agency. President of baseball operations David Stearns was hoping to bring aboard a low-cost bench piece who could provide quality defense at multiple spots and bounce back with the bat after a rough showing with the Marlins in 2022-23. That didn’t prove to be the case. Wendle, after batting a combined .238/.274/.335 in his two seasons in Miami, gave the Mets a .222/.243/.250 slash (45 wRC+) in sparse playing time. The team only gave him 37 plate appearances over the course of 18 games.
At his best with the Rays, Wendle offered outstanding defensive versatility and a slightly better than league-average bat. From 2018-21, he slashed .274/.330/.414 (105 wRC+) while bouncing between second base, third base, shortstop and the outfield corners. He graded well at all of those positions, though his marks at second base were particularly strong.
Now that he’s once again a free agent, Wendle will be able to sign with any club. He’ll only be owed the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the active roster with a new team. The Mets will remain on the hook for the rest of this year’s $2MM salary, although any money he earns with another club will be subtracted from what the Mets owe him through season’s end. With three straight seasons of below-average offense, Wendle might have to settle for a minor league pact, but his versatility and broader track record should lead to some interest on that sort of contract.
Yankees Designate Colby White For Assignment
The Yankees announced Monday that they’ve designated right-hander Colby White for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to lefty Clayton Andrews, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The Yankees placed righty Ian Hamilton on the Covid-related injured list in a corresponding move.
White, 25, was claimed off waivers out of the Rays organization back on May 9. He appeared in a pair of games for the Yankees’ Double-A affiliate but only recorded two outs. He faced six hitters, surrendered a pair of hits (including a homer) and a pair of walks with one strikeout. He yielded two earned runs in that very brief tenure in the organization.
The Rays selected White with their sixth-round pick back in 2019 and watched him develop into one of the system’s more promising arms. His 2021 campaign featured 62 1/3 innings of utter dominance across four levels; White posted a 1.44 ERA and struck out a ridiculous 45% of his opponents against a sharp 6.4% walk rate. Tommy John surgery wiped out his entire 2022 season and much of his 2023 campaign, however. He returned with 22 innings of 1.64 ERA ball last season in the minors but also a bloated 19.5% walk rate that pointed to surefire regression. He’s walked 23.1% of his opponents between the Rays and Yankees organization this season.
The 27-year-old Andrews came to the Yankees in a minor February trade with the Brewers. He was designated for assignment earlier this season and cleared outright waivers but remained in the organization. He’ll now be called up for what would be his team debut if he gets into a game.
A former 17th-round pick by Milwaukee, Andrews made his MLB debut with the Brew Crew last year, appearing in four games but yielding 10 runs in just 3 1/3 innings of work. Rough as that first look was, the southpaw also turned in a 2.53 ERA in 57 Triple-A frames, punching out 31.1% of his opponents. Command is an issue, evidenced by last year’s 13% walk rate, but Andrews has shown the ability to miss bats at a high level.
In 15 innings with Scranton so far this season, Andrews has been tagged for 11 runs — a 6.60 ERA. A massive 18.5% walk rate has played a role in those struggles, but he’s still whiffed 27.7% of the batters he’s faced and kept the ball on the ground at a big 54.5% clip.
Hamilton will hopefully only face a short-term absence. The 28-year-old righty has emerged as a key bullpen member for Aaron Boone over the past two seasons. While his 2024 campaign hasn’t been as strong as his 2023 season, he’s still given the Yanks 22 2/3 innings of 3.18 ERA ball. His 18.8% strikeout rate is down more than 10 percentage points from last year’s 29.9% mark, however, and his 8.9% walk rate is ever so slightly higher than the 8.5% league average. Hamilton still boasts a huge 14.4% swinging-strike rate and similarly impressive 35.7% opponents’ chase rate on pitches off the plate, both of which could portend a boost in strikeouts once he’s able to return to the active roster.