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Reds Sign Ryan Meisinger To Minor League Deal

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The Reds have signed right-hander Ryan Meisinger to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He’s been assigned to the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts.

Meisinger, 29, was an 11th round selection of the Orioles in the 2015 draft and worked his way up to the majors with that club in 2018. He has 31 innings of major league experience to this point, spread between the Orioles, Cardinals and Cubs. He posted a 7.26 ERA in that time with a 21.7% strikeout rate, 13.8% walk rate and 37.6% ground ball rate.

Last year, Meisinger signed a minor league deal with the Diamondbacks but was released after posting a 6.14 ERA in 14 2/3 Triple-A innings. He then signed with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League, registering a 7.06 ERA in 43 1/3 innings for them.

The righty hasn’t had much recent success but has decent Triple-A numbers in his career overall. Across parts of four seasons, he has a 3.37 ERA in 117 2/3 innings at that level, striking out 30.3% of batters faced while walking 9.1%.

The Reds have a bunch of relievers on the injured list right now, with Tejay Antone, Fernando Cruz, Casey Legumina, Reiver Sanmartin and Tony Santillan all out of action. Meisinger will look to position himself to get the call when a fresh arm is needed. If he gets a spot on the 40-man, he has a couple of options and less than a year of service time, meaning he would provide the Reds with a good deal of roster flexibility and cheap control.

Red Sox Sign Bradley Zimmer To Minor League Deal

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The Red Sox have signed outfielder Bradley Zimmer to a minor league deal, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive. Zimmer had been with the Dodgers on a minor league deal until being released this week.

Zimmer, 30, was a first round draft selection of Cleveland in 2014 and a top 100 prospect as a minor leaguer. Unfortunately, he hasn’t yet been able to put it together as a hitter, currently sporting a career batting line of .213/.298/.333 in 975 major league plate appearances. He’s struck out in 33.9% of those while walking at just a 7.8% rate. Zimmer signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers this winter but hit just .219/.322/.343 in 121 Triple-A plate appearances, striking out at a 38% clip.

Despite the poor production at the plate, Zimmer still has plenty of appeal in the other parts of his game, as his speed and defense are both generally considered elite. He has 42 stolen bases in his brief major league time and also has strong grades from advanced defensive metrics. He’s accrued 15 Defensive Runs Saved, 14 Outs Above Average and a grade of 7.8 from Ultimate Zone Rating in his career.

The Red Sox have been dealing with uncertainty in center field for much of the season. Once Trevor Story required elbow surgery in the offseason, the club planned to move Enrique Hernández in from center to cover shortstop. They then signed Adam Duvall to cover center but he fractured his wrist after just eight games. Jarren Duran has stepped up and taken the job by hitting .361/.418/.588, but his .464 batting average on balls in play suggests he’s due for some regression. Zimmer will give the club a bit of extra depth at the position and try to earn his way back to the big leagues.

Mets Select Gary Sanchez, Place Tim Locastro On 60-Day IL

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May 19: The Mets announced that they’ve selected Sanchez’s contract, optioned Perez to to Syracuse and placed outfielder Tim Locastro on the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot for Sanchez. Locastro has a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his right thumb. New York also announced that Nido is heading out on a rehab assignment with the team’s Port St. Lucie affiliate, so further changes to the catching corps could be on the horizon.

May 18: The Mets are selecting the contract of veteran catcher Gary Sánchez, reports Andy Martino of SNY (Twitter link). He’s expected to be formally added to the roster before tomorrow’s game against the Guardians. The Mets will need to create a spot on the 40-man roster before the contest.

Sánchez signed a minor league deal with the Mets a little over a week ago. It was his second non-roster pact of the season. He’d initially signed with the Giants shortly after Opening Day but never got a big league look thanks to significant struggles with their top affiliate in Sacramento. He opted out and caught on with New York thereafter.

The two-time All-Star’s deal with the Mets allowed him to opt out if he wasn’t added to the MLB roster by tomorrow. He’s fortunately gotten out to a much better start for their Triple-A club in Syracuse than he had with Sacramento. He mashed at a .318/.531/.545 clip with a homer, two doubles, eight walks and nine strikeouts in seven games there. His overall Triple-A batting line for the season is a modest .208/.386/.286 thanks to the tough first month, but he’s clearly acquitted himself nicely in his brief time with his new organization.

With the opt-out date looming, reports earlier in the week suggested the Mets were strongly considering calling Sánchez up. Now that they’ve done so, he’ll be guaranteed a prorated $1.5MM salary (roughly $1.1MM through season’s end). Even with the Mets paying a 110% tax on that figure, bringing their total expenditure to around $2.31MM, that’s a reasonable sum for a capable #2 catcher.

Sánchez isn’t going to supplant highly-regarded rookie Francisco Álvarez as the starter. He’ll add an experienced depth option to the bench, offering some extra right-handed power for skipper Buck Showalter. Sánchez is no stranger to New York, of course, as he starred for the Yankees for the first four seasons of his career. His offensive production has fallen off since the start of 2020, as he carries a .195/.287/.394 line in a little under 1100 plate appearances through the past three years.

A much maligned defensive catcher over his time in the Bronx, Sánchez garnered respectable reviews from public metrics last year during his lone season with the Twins. Statcast rated him around league average as a pitch framer and blocker. He threw out a solid 28% of attempted basestealers. If he can carry over roughly average defense with some power and plate discipline, he’d be a solid backup catcher.

New York is without offseason signee Omar Narváez and expected backup Tomás Nido due to injuries. They’ve been relying on journeyman Michael Pérez as Álvarez’s backup of late. A career .180/.250/.308 hitter, Pérez has one remaining minor league option year. Unless the Mets elect to carry three catchers, he’s likely to be optioned to Syracuse or designated for assignment.

Dodgers Select Tyler Cyr

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The Dodgers announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Tyler Cyr, with fellow righty Andre Jackson optioned in a corresponding move. The club already had a vacancy on their 40-man roster after designating Dylan Covey for assignment yesterday.

The Dodgers’ relief corps has been getting run through the gauntlet this week, leading to various roster moves as they try to restock with fresh arms. It started on Monday when started Noah Syndergaard lasted just four innings it what eventually turned into a 12-inning game that saw the club use six relievers. Then Clayton Kershaw was also bumped after four frames on Tuesday, leading to the relievers throwing another five. The Dodgers selected Covey prior to Wednesday’s contest, then saw Dustin May depart after just one inning with a flexor pronator strain that’s going to keep him sidelined for weeks. Covey tossed four innings in relief and then four other pitchers followed him. Covey was designated for assignment the next day as Jackson and Justin Bruihl were recalled. Last night, Julio Urías was pushed out after just three innings, leaving the bullpen to pick up another five. Since they were in St. Louis and got crushed, they didn’t have to cover the bottom of the ninth but Jackson did throw 3 1/3 innings in there, getting optioned today for his troubles.

Going into today’s contest, they are yet again scrambling for a fresh arm to have on hand, tapping Cyr to be that arm. The 30-year-old made his major league debut with the Phillies last year, making just one appearance before getting put on waivers and getting claimed by the A’s. He tossed 13 1/3 innings between the two clubs with a 2.70 ERA, 29.1% strikeout rate, 9.1% walk rate and 48.5% ground ball rate.

He was released in January and eventually landed with the Dodgers on a minor league deal. He’s tossed 16 2/3 Triple-A innings here in 2023 thus far with a 4.86 ERA, striking out 31.6% of opponents and getting grounders at a 56.4% rate but issuing walks to 13.2% of batters faced. Cyr has a full slate of options and less than a year of service time, meaning he could potentially provide the Dodgers with a depth arm with roster flexibility and cheap control for years to come, provided he performs well enough to hang onto his spot on the 40-man roster.

Pirates Designate Miguel Andujar For Assignment

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The Pirates announced that they have activated left-hander Rob Zastryzny from the injured list, with outfielder Miguel Andujar designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Andujar, 28, was selected to the club’s roster three weeks ago but has hit just .161/.212/.387 in his 33 plate appearances since then. He had earned that call-up with a .284/.364/.500 showing in Triple-A but wasn’t able to bring any of that production up to the big leagues with him.

It’s yet another unfortunate development in Andujar’s career, one that seemed so promising a few years ago. He hit .297/.328/.527 for the Yankees in 2018, finishing second to Shohei Ohtani in Rookie of the Year voting. Unfortunately, he required season-ending shoulder surgery after just 12 games in 2019 and hasn’t seemed the same since. Once he returned to health in 2020, the Yankees had filled his third base position with players like DJ LeMahieu and Gio Urshela, which squeezed him out of regular playing time. Over the past few years, he’s continued to hit well in Triple-A but struggled whenever given another shot at the majors. Going back to the start of 2020, he’s hit .291/.346/.508 in the minors but just .237/.268/.354 in the big leagues.

The Bucs will now have a week to either trade Andujar or pass him through waivers. He’s making a salary of $1.525MM this year, which could factor into how this plays out. While some teams might be intrigued by his past success and Triple-A numbers, they would have to be willing to take on that money. Andujar was passed through waivers in January without anyone putting in a claim. He would have had the right to reject an outright assignment at that time but would have had to forfeit that money and ultimately accepted, which could be the same script that is followed in the coming days.

Athletics Designate Zach Neal For Assignment

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The A’s announced Friday that they’ve designated righty Zach Neal for assignment and placed fellow righty Zach Jackson on the 15-day injured list with a flexor tendon strain. That pair of moves clears a spot for the selection of righty Lucas Erceg’s contract. Oakland acquired Erceg from the Brewers in exchange for cash earlier in the week and will put him right onto the MLB roster.

Neal, 34, returned to the Majors for the first time in five years when the A’s called him up last week. He’s appeared in two games and allowed a total of three runs on four hits (two homers) and no walks with three strikeouts. That marks his second stint with Oakland, as he was also with the A’s back in 2016-17. Neal tossed one lone inning for the 2018 Dodgers and spent the 2019-21 seasons pitching for the Seibu Lions of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. His first NPB season was a strong one, but he struggled in two subsequent years and was also hit hard with the Rockies’ Triple-A affiliate in 2022.

Overall, Neal has 89 big league innings and a 5.06 ERA with just an 11% strikeout rate but a minuscule 1.9% walk rate. He’s a heavy ground-ball pitcher who’s had some success in Triple-A, last year’s rough showing with the Rockies organization (6.87 ERA in 116 2/3 innings) notwithstanding. The A’s will have a week to trade him or pass him through outright waivers. Neal would have the ability to reject the assignment in favor of free agency, as he’s been outrighted previously in his career.

Word of a flexor strain for Jackson is tough for the A’s, given that Jackson was one of just two members of the team’s Opening Day bullpen who’d survived to this point. He’s pitched 18 innings of 2.50 ERA ball thus far, fanning 28.7% of his opponents against an admittedly unsightly 12.5% walk rate. Even with that ugly walk rate, Jackson has been a bright spot in an Oakland bullpen that has used a stunning 21 relievers so far this year. The timeline on his recovery hasn’t been provided yet, flexor tendon injuries are rarely accompanied by short-term absences.

Erceg will become the 22nd A’s reliever of the young season whenever he takes the mound. He’s a 2016 second-round pick who drafted by the Brewers as a third baseman but eventually moved to the mound in 2021. Erceg was a reliever in college as well, so the shift wasn’t entirely foreign to him. He’s taken to the mound reasonably well, given the long layoff between his college pitching career and his debut on the mound in pro ball.

The 28-year-old Erceg pitched to a 3.43 ERA in 39 1/3 Triple-A frames following a promotion there last year, fanning just under a quarter of his opponents (24.7%) against a bloated 13.5% walk rate. He’s had a rougher go in 2023, evidenced by a 6.46 earned run average in just 15 1/3 frames.

However, six of the 11 earned runs he’s allowed came in one catastrophic appearance against the Braves’ top affiliate on May 10, wherein Erceg didn’t record an out. He’s been generally solid otherwise, and his 23.9% strikeout rate and 14.9% walk rate are at least within the vicinity of last year’s rates. He’ll obviously still need to cut down on his walks if he’s to have any sustained success on the mound, but the paper-thin A’s are strapped enough for pitching depth that they’ll give him the chance to do so at the big league level for now.

Rockies Select Karl Kauffmann, Transfer German Marquez To 60-Day IL

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May 19: The Rockies indeed announced that they’ve selected Kauffman’s contract, opening roster space by optioning Pint and moving Marquez to the 60-day IL.

May 17: The Rockies are selecting the contract of right-hander Karl Kauffmann, tweets Danielle Allentuck of the Denver Gazette. Riley Pint is being optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque to open a spot on the active roster. Colorado will need to make a corresponding 40-man roster transaction, though that’s likely to be accomplished by transferring Germán Márquez from the 15-day to the 60-day injured list.

It’s an expected move. Thomas Harding of MLB.com noted last night that Kauffmann had been scratched from his scheduled Triple-A start and was in consideration for a major league promotion. Now that it’s officially coming to fruition, he’ll be in line for his major league debut Friday night against the Rangers.

Kauffmann, 25, entered pro ball as a supplemental second round draftee in 2019. The Michigan product appeared among Baseball America’s rankings of Colorado’s top 30 minor league talents each season from 2020-22. He performed reasonably well over 15 starts with Double-A Hartford last season, posting a 4.06 ERA while striking out just under 26% of opponents. A promotion to Triple-A didn’t go as hoped, as Kauffmann surrendered more than six earned runs per nine in a nightmarish Pacific Coast League environment for pitchers.

The Rox left Kauffmann unprotected in last offseason’s Rule 5 draft. He was unselected and remained in the organization. Colorado sent him back to Albuquerque. He’s made eight starts there but been tagged for a 7.78 ERA with a modest 14.9% strikeout rate. The Michigan product has cut his walk percentage to a personal-low 6.9% clip, though, and he’s a generally experienced upper minors pitcher for an organization lacking in rotation depth.

Márquez’s Tommy John surgery and the recent elbow sprain for Antonio Senzatela have left the Rox looking for innings. Colorado brought in veteran righty Chase Anderson off waivers from the Rays while pushing Connor Seabold from the bullpen to the starting five. Kauffmann will get at least one look behind that duo and top two starters Kyle Freeland and Austin Gomber.

Giants Select Patrick Bailey, Designate Cal Stevenson

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The Giants announced a flurry of roster moves Friday, headlined by their selection of catcher Patrick Bailey’s contract from Triple-A Sacramento. San Francisco also selected the contract of righty Ryan Walker, designated outfielder Cal Stevenson for assignment and placed both catcher Joey Bart (groin strain) and right-hander Ross Stripling (back strain) on the 10-day and 15-day injured lists. Stevenson’s DFA opens one 40-man roster spot for Bailey, and a second was opened by recalling outfielder Heliot Ramos from Sacramento and placing him on the Major League 60-day injured list with a strained right oblique.

Bailey, 23, was the Giants’ top pick in the 2020 draft, coming off the board with the No. 13 overall selection. He had a decent debut campaign in their system a year later, batting a combined .265/.366/.429 across the Giants’ Rookie-ball, Low-A and High-A affiliates. He struggled at the final of those three stops (.185/.290/.296), but Bailey returned to High-A in 2022 and posted an improved .225/.342/.419 output. It still wasn’t a great showing, but the Giants moved him up to Double-A in 2023 anyhow, and he responded with a .333/.400/.481 slash in 14 games before being promoted again to Triple-A.

Bailey’s bat has again struggled following that quick promotion, but he’ll be aggressively promoted even further now that Bart is sidelined with an injury. Baseball America ranked him 27th among Giants farmhands heading into the season, lauding his defensive aptitude — specifically his receiving and blocking skills (though he also sports a strong 31% caught-stealing rate in the minors). The switch-hitting Bailey has struggled mightily from the right side of the dish in pro ball, hitting below .200 with just two of his 25 career home runs coming from that side of the dish.

Walker, 27, was the Giants’ 31st-rounder back in 2018. He’s never ranked among the organization’s top prospects but has steadily posted above-average numbers throughout his minor league tenure. He opened the 2023 season in Sacramento — his second Triple-A stint — and has come roaring out of the gates with 20 1/3 innings of 0.89 ERA ball. He’s punched out 31.1% of his opponents this season, has induced grounders at a 50% clip and has yet to surrender a home run. His 10.8% walk rate is higher than the Giants would like to see, but command hasn’t been a recurring issue, as evidenced by a career 7.7% walk rate in parts of five pro seasons.

The Giants acquired the 26-year-old Stevenson from the A’s in exchange for cash earlier this year and called him up to the big leagues when Mike Yastrzemski hit the injured list. He’s gone hitless in 12 plate appearances and is now a .145/.259/.188 hitter in a still-small sample of 83 Major League plate appearances. Stevenson’s track record in Triple-A is far, far better. He’s appeared in 101 games at the top minor league level and turned in a .271/.382/.386 line with seven homers while going 21-for-26 in stolen bases and walking nearly as often as he’s punched out (15% vs. 18.2%). He’s primarily been a center fielder but has experience in both corners. The Giants have a week to trade him or attempt to pass him through outright waivers.

As for the slate of injuries announced by San Francisco, none had been heavily foreshadowed. Bart suited up behind the plate for the Giants’ most recent game — his eighth start at catcher in nine games — and went 1-for-3. He’s hitting just .237/.286/.295 on the season and has yet to solidify himself as the franchise catcher the organization envisioned when selecting him with the No. 2 overall pick back in 2018. Bailey’s ascension to the big leagues could put extra pressure on Bart, who’s in his final minor league option year in 2023.

Stripling signed a two-year, $25MM deal over the winter — one that allows him to opt back into free agency at season’s end. His early performance with the Giants makes that overwhelmingly unlikely. In 32 1/3 frames, the right-hander has been torched for a 7.24 ERA, thanks largely to a stunning 10 home runs surrendered in that time. Stripling excelled with the Blue Jays in 2022, pitching to a 3.01 ERA across 134 1/3 frames and allowing just 12 home runs in that time. It’s not clear at this time whether his back has been troubling him throughout the season, though that would certainly explain some of the right-hander’s astronomical downturn.

Ramos, meanwhile, had gone on the minor league injured list a bit more than a week ago, though there’d been no indication he was looking at an absence of this length. The former first-round pick (No. 19 overall in 2017) has struggled badly in 18 big league games dating back to last season, slashing just .152/.205/.196 in 49 trips to the plate. He hasn’t yet found his stride in Triple-A either, batting a combined .244/.313/.367 in a very hitter-friendly setting. He’s been a bit better so far in 2023, batting .262/.333/.385 in 75 plate appearances there, but his generally lackluster minor league performance has begun to obfuscate his long-term role with the club.

Astros To Activate Jose Altuve

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The Astros announced Friday that All-Star second baseman Jose Altuve will be reinstated from the injured list prior to tonight’s series opener against the Athletics. Altuve has not yet played in a game during the regular season after suffering a broken thumb when he was hit by a pitch during the World Baseball Classic. While that fracture ultimately required surgery, Altuve was not placed on the 60-day injured list, meaning Houston won’t need to make a corresponding 40-man move to reinstate Altuve.

The original timetable on Altuve was a two-month recovery period from the surgery, plus some rehab work after that. General manager Dana Brown has said recently, however, that Altuve was ahead of schedule. He’ll indeed return just shy of two months after undergoing surgery on March 22 (and two months, to the day, since the injury itself occurred). He’s played in five minor league rehab games between Double-A and Triple-A, and although he’s gone just 2-for-22 in that time, he and the team clearly feel he’s in a good enough place to return to the big league lineup.

Altuve, 33, had a down year during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season but has since rebounded to elite levels of performance. Over the past two seasons, he’s batted a combined .288/.368/.510 with 59 home runs and 23 steals — including a sensational .300/.387/.533 output in 2022.

In place of Altuve, the Astros have primarily leaned on utilityman Mauricio Dubon, who has exceeded any and all expectations since taking the reins at second base. The former Red Sox/Brewers prospect and Giants utilityman, acquired from San Francisco in a trade for catcher Michael Papierski last May, has taken 156 turns at the plate and turned in a .309/.333/.389 batting line with ten doubles, a triple, three steals and above-average glovework in the field.

Altuve will take over the lion’s share of playing time at second base, but Dubon’s performance has surely been impressive enough that manager Dusty Baker will frequently work him into the lineup at other spots. In addition to his work at second base, Dubon has big league experience at shortstop, third base and all three outfield positions. He figures to spell Altuve and other Astros regulars while moving around the diamond going forward.

The return of Altuve should be a jolt for an Astros lineup that has been surprisingly been below-average. Houston ranks 25th in the Majors with 38 home runs and is tied for 16th with 191 runs scored. Astros hitters rank 16th in batting average (.244), 21st in on-base percentage (.312) and perhaps most surprisingly, 27th in slugging percentage (.377). They’ve received no production whatsoever out of Jose Abreu, who inked a three-year deal worth $58.5MM this winter, and they’ve yet to get a single game out of Michael Brantley, who’s spent the year on the injured list.

A healthy Altuve would certainly lift the Astros’ production across the board, though only time will tell how quickly he can bounce back from that thumb surgery. The eight-time All-Star, six-time Silver Slugger and three-time American League batting champion is in the penultimate season of a $151MM contract extension he signed prior to the 2018 season. He’s being paid $26MM in 2023 and is slated to earn the same salary in 2024 before becoming a free agent — although Brown has said on record multiple times that he hopes to eventually extend Altuve and keep in Houston for the entirety of his career.

Braves Select Charlie Culberson

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The Braves announced Friday that they’ve selected the contract of veteran utilityman Charlie Culberson from Triple-A Gwinnett and transferred infielder Ehire Adrianza to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Culberson will take the 26-man roster spot of prospect Braden Shewmake, who was optioned to Gwinnett after last night’s game. Adrianza had been on a rehab assignment after landing on the injured list due to elbow inflammation, but he’s now dealing with a left shoulder strain.

Culberson, 34, has struggled in Gwinnett this season, slashing just .204/.234/.255 in 107 trips to the plate. He has a lengthy track record of better output than that in the Majors, however, and is a known commodity for a Braves organization that rostered him from 2018-20. Culberson suited up for 230 games with the Braves and hit .265/.314/.454 in 473 plate appearances, including a career-best year in 2018 that saw him reach career-highs in both home runs (12) and doubles (18).

Over the past few seasons, Culberson’s production has dropped off. He’s posted a .244/.289/.371 batting line in 402 trips to the plate dating back to 2020, mostly spending time with the Rangers during that stretch. The Braves will hope that a return to his native Georgia can also bring about a return to top form.

Culberson has appeared at every position on the diamond other than catcher and center field in his decade-long career, including 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball in mop-up duty (albeit with just one strikeout). Third base has been his primary position in the Majors, but he has more than 400 innings at second base, at shortstop and in left field as well. Culberson has generally struggled against right-handed pitching (.217/.277/.348), but he’s a .285/.313/.431 hitter against lefties in his career.

Adrianza, 33, appeared in just five games with the Braves before landing on the injured list. He went hitless in 11 plate appearances during that time. The versatile switch-hitter is a career .238/.308/.352 batter in 1550 plate appearances between the Twins, Giants, Braves and Nationals. It’s not immediately clear when he’ll be expected to return. He’ll be a free agent at season’s end.

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