Phillies Acquire José Rodríguez From White Sox
The Phillies announced that they have acquired infielder José Rodríguez from the White Sox in exchange for cash considerations and optioned him to Double-A Reading. The infielder was designated for assignment by the Sox yesterday. The Phils have had an open spot on their 40-man roster since trading outfielder Jake Cave to the Rockies about two weeks ago, so they won’t need to make a corresponding move.
Rodríguez, 23 next month, got the briefest of major league debuts last year. He entered as a pinch runner and scored a run but has not yet made his first major league plate appearance. He split most of last year between Double-A and Triple-A, walking in just 4.1% of his plate appearances while striking out at a 21.9% rate. But he did hit 21 home runs and produced a batting line of .262/.292/.437, which led to a wRC+ of 87.
He also stole 31 bases on the year and bounced around the infield, playing the three positions on the dirt to the left of first base. The offense was subpar overall thanks to the lack of on-base ability but the power is obviously a nice attribute.
He was bumped off Chicago’s roster this week when that club make their signing of Mike Clevinger official but the Phils were clearly intrigued enough to use their open roster spot and some cash to get him into their organization. Rodríguez still has a couple of options and can be kept in the minors until the Phils decide he’s ready for another call-up.
The Phils have an infield consisting of Bryce Harper, Bryson Stott, Trea Turner and Alec Bohm, with Whit Merrifield and Edmundo Sosa also on the active roster. Rodríguez will jump into a group of depth infielders on the 40-man that includes Kody Clemens, Darick Hall, Rodolfo Castro and Weston Wilson.
Phillies Sign José Godoy, Beau Burrows To Minor League Deals
The Phillies have signed catcher José Godoy and right-hander Beau Burrows to minor league deals, per the transaction tracker of each player at MLB.com. Godoy is represented by The MAS+ Agency while Burrows is a Frontline client. Phillies Tailgate reported Godoy’s signing a few days ago while philliesbaseballfan.com had Burrows.
Godoy, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Rangers in February but it appears he was released at some point and now has a new deal with the Phillies. The backstop has a small amount of major league experience, with 62 plate appearances in 26 games, suiting up for the Mariners, Twins and Pirates. He hit .123/.194/.140 in that small sample of work.
Naturally, he has a larger and more impressive body of work at the Triple-A level. He has slashed .270/.328/.403 in 741 plate appearances there over five separate seasons. He’s also considered to be a strong defender behind the dish.
The Phils have J.T. Realmuto and Garrett Stubbs sharing the catching duties, but Rafael Marchán missed all of Spring Training due to back problems and hasn’t yet gotten back on the field. The Phil also signed Cam Gallagher and Aramis Garcia to minor league deals this offseason but the former has been placed on the restricted list, per Phillies Tailgate. It’s unclear why Gallagher is unavailable but it seems Godoy will share the catching duties with Garcia at LeHigh Valley for now.
Burrows, 27, has 17 2/3 innings of major league experience with an earned run average of 10.70 in that small sample. He spent last year in Atlanta’s minor league system with a 5.42 ERA in 76 1/3 innings, striking out 22.4% of batters faced while walking 10.6%. He had signed a minor league deal with the Twins a couple of months ago but was recently released.
Dodgers Outright Nabil Crismatt
Right-hander Nabil Crismatt has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Oklahoma City, per Eric Stephen of True Blue LA. The pitcher has the right to reject this assignment and elect free agency but his transactions tracker at MLB.com says he has been activated by OKC, which seems to suggest he has accepted.
Crismatt, 29, was added to the Dodgers’ roster and earned the win in Sunday’s game. He entered with the club losing to the Cardinals, tossed two scoreless innings as the Dodgers took the lead and ended up with the W. He struck out three opponents in the process while allowing one hit and no walks. As a thank you for that performance, the Dodgers designated him for assignment the next day in order to add a fresh arm in Dinelson Lamet.
The other 29 clubs had a chance to grab Crismatt but seemingly passed, so he’ll stick with the Dodgers to provide some non-roster depth. He had a poor season in 2023, as he had an earned run average of 8.31 in the majors and 6.86 in the minors, but he was much better prior to that. He tossed 148 2/3 innings for the Padres over 2021 and 2022 with a 3.39 ERA, 21.6% strikeout rate and 7.3 walk rate.
Mets Designate Michael Tonkin For Assignment
The Mets have made their signing of right-hander Julio Teheran official today, announcing the move today. Fellow righty Michael Tonkin designated for assignment as the corresponding move, with Anthony DiComo of MLB.com among those to relay the move.
Tonkin, 34, was signed by the Mets to a major league deal in December. That pact came with a modest guarantee of $1MM, just a bit north of the $740K league minimum. One week into the season, the Mets have already used their bullpen a lot, with Tonkin tossing four innings over three appearances. He allowed two earned runs on six hits and one walk, striking out three.
Just about everyone in the Mets’ bullpen was used in yesterday’s doubleheader and most of them can’t be optioned to the minors, giving them little flexibility back there. They also needed a 40-man roster spot for Teheran, who was signed to bolster the rotation after the recent injuries to Kodai Senga and Tylor Megill. Those two factors have seemingly nudged Tonkin off the club and into the DFA gulf.
The Mets will now have one week to trade Tonkin or pass him through waivers. He’s coming off a solid bounceback season in 2023 after a bit of a journey in the wilderness. He pitched for the Twins from 2013 to 2017, then spent a few years traveling to pitch in Japan, Mexico, the Atlantic League’s Long Island Ducks and various minor league clubs.
He resurfaced with Atlanta last year and tossed 80 innings over 45 relief appearances with a 4.28 earned run average. He struck out 23.1% of batters faced in that time while giving out walks at a 7.1% clip. If any club is interested in adding a well-traveled veteran to their bullpen, Tonkin should be available to them in the next few days.
If Tonkin were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he would have the right to reject an outright assignment as a player with more than three years of major league service time. However, he lacks the five years of service necessary to both elect free agency and retain his salary, so perhaps he would decide to report to Triple-A and keep that $1MM flowing if that scenario comes to pass.
Brewers Claim Vladimir Gutierrez
The Brewers have claimed right-hander Vladimir Gutierrez off waivers from the Marlins, tweets Adam McCalvy of MLB.com. He’s been optioned to Triple-A Nashville. Miami designated Gutierrez for assignment earlier in the week.
Gutierrez, 28, was a high-profile prospect out of Cuba who signed for a $4.75MM bonus (plus a 100% tax on that sum) with the Reds back in 2016. He wound up pitching just 150 2/3 innings between 2021-22 in Cincinnati, logging a 5.44 ERA with worse-than-average strikeout and walk rates of 17.3% and 10.4%, respectively. As a prospect, he was touted as having a solid heater with a potentially plus slate of secondary offerings (curve, slider, changeup) — but he’s yet to find much consistency in the majors.
Were it not for a ligament tear that necessitated Tommy John surgery, Gutierrez might’ve gotten more of a look in Cincinnati. He briefly returned to throw a few minor league frames late last year but became a minor league free agent after the season and signed a minors contract in Miami. The Marlins selected him to the roster to add some length to an overworked bullpen but designated Gutierrez for assignment after he tossed three innings of long relief. The Fish needed to clear roster space for another fresh arm, lefty Kent Emanuel, who followed nearly the same track: three innings of long relief in his first appearance followed by an immediate DFA to bring in yet another fresh arm (Matt Andriese).
Francys Romero tweets that the Brewers plan to get Gutierrez two or three starts down in Nashville to further stretch him out. At that point, they’ll consider him for starts at the big league level. Milwaukee’s rotation is more unsettled than at any point in recent memory, as Brandon Woodruff required September shoulder surgery that’ll cost him most of the 2024 season and Corbin Burnes was traded to the Orioles in a late-offseason blockbuster. Veteran Wade Miley, who returned on a one-year deal, has been slowed by a shoulder impingement. Prospect Robert Gasser, arguably the top minor league arm in the system, is currently on the injured list due to a bone spur in his elbow.
At the moment, the Brewers are going with Freddy Peralta, Jakob Junis, Colin Rea, DL Hall (acquired in the Burnes trade) and Joe Ross in a patchwork rotation. The return of Miley will help solidify things for the Brew Crew, but Gutierrez will give them another option with some MLB experience who could potentially work his way into the rotation mix.
White Sox Select Robbie Grossman, Designate Alex Speas
The White Sox on Friday announced that they’ve placed Eloy Jimenez on the 10-day injured list with an adductor strain, selected the contract of veteran outfielder Robbie Grossman, and designated right-hander Alex Speas for assignment in order to open a roster spot for Grossman. Jimenez’s IL placement is retroactive to April 2.
Sox GM Chris Getz suggested earlier this week that Grossman, 34, could soon be added to the big league roster. The veteran switch-hitter spent the 2023 season with the World Series champion Rangers and batted .238/.340/.394. He’s been an average or better hitter in six of the past eight seasons, collecting 3552 plate appearances and delivering a combined .245/.350/.387 batting line. Grossman is a career .282/.381/.426 slash against left-handed pitching (126 wRC+). He’s been below-average, albeit not egregiously so, against right-handed pitching.
Grossman has played a bit of center field in his career, but the vast majority of that experience came back in 2013. He’s primarily a corner outfielder and designated hitter, with the bulk of his outfield work coming in left field. He played 553 innings on the grass for Texas last season but turned in well below-average defensive marks. He can offer the Sox a veteran bat to step in for the injured Jimenez at designated hitter and could also spell left-handed-hitting corner outfielders Andrew Benintendi and Dominic Fletcher against left-handed starting pitchers on occasion.
Speas, 26, joined the White Sox via waiver claim last October. The flamethrowing righty sits 99-100 mph with his heater and can climb higher than that. As one would expect, that’s led to some prodigious strikeout totals in the minors, but Speas struggles to command his power arsenal and has alarming walk rates in the upper minors. He pitched two big league innings for the Rangers last year but split the bulk of the season between Double-A and Triple-A. Speas fanned a ridiculous 41% of his Double-A opponents and nearly 35% of his Triple-A opponents, but he also walked a combined 15.5% of his opponents.
Speas was with the Sox during spring training and walked six of his 26 opponents. He’s begun the season in Triple-A Charlotte, where he was tagged for four runs in two innings as he walked another two of the 11 batters he’s faced there. The 2016 second-round pick has electric stuff but has walked more than 18% of the opponents he’s faced in pro ball. The White Sox will have a week to trade Speas, attempt to pass him through outright waivers or release him.
Jimenez exited the White Sox’ game back on Sunday due to soreness in his adductor muscle and hasn’t played in a game since. He’s out to a 2-for-11 start on the season, with both hits being singles. The 27-year-old slugger has shown at times that he has the upside to be one of the game’s most dangerous hitters. Jimenez belted 31 homers as a rookie in 2019 and as recently as 2021, he slashed .295/.358/.500 with 16 homers in just 84 games.
Injuries have been far too frequent for the Dominican-born slugger, however. He’s been on the injured list due to ankle, elbow/forearm, and hamstring injuries (twice), in addition to the current adductor strain and a 2023 appendectomy that kept him out for about three weeks. Jimenez has never topped the 122 games he played as a rookie, and that 2019 season is the only one of his career in which he’s reached 500 big league plate appearances.
Orioles Trade Diego Castillo To Twins
The Orioles announced Friday that they’ve traded minor league infielder/outfielder Diego Castillo to the Twins in exchange for cash. He’s not to be confused with veteran reliever Diego Castillo — the former Mariners/Rays closer and setup man who also joined the Twins on a minor league deal last week.
This latest trade will bring the younger, 26-year-old Castillo to the Twins. It was an eventful offseason for the versatile utilityman, who bounced from the D-backs, to the Mets, to the Yankees, to the Phillies, to the Orioles via the DFA carousel in a span of about two months. The Orioles finally succeeded in sneaking Castillo through waivers back in February, retaining him without needing to dedicate a spot on the 40-man roster. He’ll now join an incredible sixth organization in the past four months. Since the O’s outrighted Castillo back in February, he won’t need to go onto the Twins’ 40-man roster and can head right to their Triple-A affiliate in St. Paul.
Castillo spent the 2023 season with the D-backs organization but only appeared in one big league game and went hitless in his only plate appearance. He’d picked up 283 plate appearances with the Pirates a year prior but managed only a .206/.251/.382 batting line in what was his MLB debut effort.
The majority of Castillo’s 2023 season was spent with the Diamondbacks’ Triple-A affiliate in Reno, where he posted an excellent .313/.431/.410 slash with more walks (17.4%) than strikeouts (14.2%) in 556 plate appearances. He played second base, shortstop, third base and left field in Reno. Castillo has played 177 career games in Triple-A and is a .296/.410/.407 hitter.
Castillo doesn’t have much power but has long drawn praise for his plus hit tool, which is evidenced by his minimal strikeout rates. He pairs that with a keen eye at the plate, a bit of speed and plenty of defensive versatility, even if he’s not regarded as a plus defender anywhere on the diamond. The Twins recently lost third baseman Royce Lewis to a quad strain, and top infield prospect Brooks Lee is out until late April due to a back injury. They recalled prospect Austin Martin to replace Lewis on the big league roster, and his departure from St. Paul, coupled with Lee’s injury, likely pushed the Twins to acquire some additional depth in the form of Castillo.
Brewers, Francisco Mejia Agree To Minor League Deal
The Brewers have agreed to a minor league contract with free agent catcher Francisco Mejia, reports Kiley McDaniel of ESPN. The 28-year-old switch-hitter spent time with the Angels and Rays during spring training but was released by Tampa Bay last week. He’ll head to Triple-A Nashville and add some depth while top catching prospect Jeferson Quero is injured.
Mejia was once not just one of the game’s top catching prospects but one of the top-ranked prospects in the entire sport, regardless of position. He peaked at No. 20 on Baseball America’s top-100 list and No. 11 at MLB.com heading into the 2018 season. He was on the verge of joining the Brewers way back in 2016 before then-Milwaukee catcher Jonathan Lucroy used his no-trade clause to veto a trade to Cleveland. (Lucroy explained his rationale for that decision not long after the fact.) The Brewers wound up trading Lucroy to the Rangers instead. Mejia also wound up on the move, going to the Padres in a deal for Brad Hand.
Despite his prominent placement on national prospect rankings, Mejia has yet to hit much in the big leagues while racking up more than five years of big league service between Cleveland, San Diego and Tampa Bay. In just shy of 1100 trips to the plate, he’s a .239/.284/.394 hitter. He’s been far better in Triple-A, where he touts a very strong .306/.350/.519 batting line in 633 plate appearances.
Beyond his struggles at the plate, Mejia has also had a rough time behind the dish. He’s long posted sub-par framing number, and his throwing took a major hit in 2023, when he thwarted just four of the 42 runners who tried to steal against him. Statcast also ranks him as one of the least-effective catchers in the game when it comes to blocking balls in the dirt.
Clearly, things haven’t panned out as hoped for the once ballyhooed young catcher. But he’s still just 28 and has shown little problem handling Triple-A pitching. The Brewers don’t have an immediate need behind the dish, with William Contreras and Gary Sanchez on the big league roster and the recently outrighted Eric Haase likely ahead of Mejia on the depth chart down in Triple-A as well. Mejia offers a relative veteran to help share that workload with Haase, and in the event of multiple catcher injuries he’s a fine third or fourth option for the organization to hand.
Yankees, Rougned Odor Agree To Minor League Deal
The Yankees have agreed to a minor league deal with veteran infielder Rougned Odor, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The BHSC client can opt out of the contract on July 1 if he hasn’t been added to the roster by that point. Odor had signed a deal with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball back in January, but the league announced just a couple days ago that he’d been released.
It’s the second Yankees stint for Odor. The now-30-year-old infielder spent the 2021 season in the Bronx and batted .202/.286/.379 with 15 homers in 361 trips to the plate. He’s suited up for the Orioles and Padres since that initial run with the Yankees. Presumably, he’ll head to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and hope to play his way into a return to the big league level.
While Odor has a trio of 30-homer seasons under his belt, his offense has tailed off considerably since his run with the Rangers early in his career. The former top prospect hit .238/.295/.445 (95 wRC+) from 2015-19, offsetting much of his above-average power with a free-swinging approach that led to frequently anemic on-base percentages. It was still decent production on the whole, however, and Odor paired that all-or-nothing approach with solid glovework and baserunning skills.
Since the 2020 season, things have taken a swift downturn. Odor has tallied 1138 plate appearances in that time, hitting just .199/.274/.371. He’s begun to walk a bit more and slightly improved his strikeout rate from the 30% at which it sat in 2019. But Odor’s 7.3% walk rate and 25.7% strikeout rate since 2020 are still worse than average, and his baserunning and defense have begun to decline as well. He still clearly has power against righties, but that comes with low average and OBP marks. His numbers against lefties in this stretch (.187/.273/.337) render him nearly unplayable against same-handed opponents.
The Yankees’ infield is banged up at the moment, however, and it seems they’ll be without DJ LeMahieu for longer than expected after he was eventually diagnosed with a fracture in his foot. Back in early March, Oswald Peraza was shut down entirely for six to eight weeks due to a shoulder strain. Even if he’s able to resume baseball activity at the end of that 6-8 week shutdown, he’ll then need to slowly build back up and head out on a minor league rehab stint. We’re not even four weeks from that original shutdown; his return is still quite a ways off.
That pair of infield injuries surely contributed to the Yankees’ late acquisition of utilityman Jon Berti from the Marlins — a trade that occurred on the eve of Opening Day. That’s helped soften the blow, but another injury would leave the Yankees relatively thin on infield options. Well-traveled utility infielder Josh VanMeter is in Triple-A at the moment, as are former prospects like Jordan Groshans, Kevin Smith and Jeter Downs. None are on the 40-man roster, however, and none have had any big league success to this point. Odor will give the Yanks some additional depth that has more big league experience and some success — even if it’s been several years since his last productive MLB campaign.
Blue Jays Designate Wes Parsons For Assignment
The Blue Jays have selected the contract of right-hander Paolo Espino from Triple-A Buffalo and designated right-hander Wes Parsons for assignment in a corresponding move, the team announced Friday.
Parsons, 31, has spent the past two seasons with the Jays after a two-year run in the Korea Baseball Organization. He’s logged just nine innings over three appearances at the MLB level with Toronto dating back to a spot start last October. The results haven’t been pretty. Parsons was tagged for nine runs in four innings against the Rays in that spot start, and this season he’s served up another six runs in five innings of relief. On the whole, he’s yielded 15 runs on 16 hits and five walks with five strikeouts in nine frames for the Jays.
Rough as that showing has been, Parsons pitched decently for the Jays’ Triple-A club in 2023, tossing 81 2/3 frames over 17 starts and recording a 4.52 ERA, 27.6% strikeout rate and 12% walk rate. He was effective for the KBO’s NC Dinos as well, making 32 starts and turning in a 3.68 ERA while striking out more than a quarter of his opponents. In his limited time with Toronto, Parsons has shown five pitches — four-seamer, two-seamer, curveball, slider, changeup — averaging 94.7 mph on his four-seamer and 93.5 mph on his sinker. The right-hander, who’s in his final minor league option year, will either be traded, placed on outright waivers or released within the next week.
Espino, 37, spent the 2020-23 seasons in the Nationals organization, oscillating not only between the big leagues and Triple-A but also between starting and bullpen roles. He pitched 233 innings with the Nats in the majors, working to a 4.91 ERA with a below-average 19.5% strikeout rate but an excellent 5.4% walk rate.
Espino doesn’t throw hard, sitting just 88-89 mph with his fastball, and his extreme fly-ball tendencies could be a tough fit in the American League East. That said, he excelled in spring training, tossing 17 innings with a 2.65 ERA, 36.4% strikeout rate and 3% walk rate. That brilliant showing earned him a look with the Jays, and he can now add some length to their bullpen in the event of a short start or a game getting out of hand.