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Pirates, Ryan Borucki Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Pirates and left-hander Ryan Borucki have agreed to a minor league deal, per the team’s transactions log at MLB.com. Borucki elected free agency earlier in the week after the Cubs passed him through waivers unclaimed.

Borucki, 29, has logged big league time in each of the past five seasons — the vast majority coming as a member of the Blue Jays. He posted a 3.87 ERA in 17 starts as a rookie back in 2018 but has pitched almost exclusively out of the bullpen since, due in large part to elbow surgery that wiped out most of his 2019 season. Since returning, the left-hander has posted a 4.66 ERA in 65 2/3 big league innings, fanning 22.3% of his opponents against a 12% walk rate.

Borucki opened the 2023 season with the Cubs’ top affiliate in Iowa, where he was roughed up for a dozen runs on 13 hits and six walks with 11 strikeouts in nine innings. In need of a fresh arm for the bullpen, the Cubs selected Borucki’s contract in late April, but he was designated for assignment before even getting into a game.

It’s been a tough few years for Borucki, but even when struggling to a 5.68 ERA in 25 1/3 innings between Toronto and Seattle in 2022, the southpaw averaged 95.1 mph on his sinker and posted a strong 12% swinging-strike rate. He’s moved away from his changeup and begun to rely primarily on his sinker and slider over the past two seasons, which has helped him up his ground-ball rate to a hefty 54.3% in that time.

The Bucs currently have lefty relievers Jarlin Garcia and Rob Zastryzny on the injured list. Garcia, notably, is on the 60-day and does not have a timetable for his return. Rule 5 pick Jose Hernandez has been the only left-handed option in manager Derek Shelton’s bullpen for the past couple weeks. Borucki won’t immediately be added to the mix, but he gives the Pirates an experienced option to take a look at in Triple-A.

Yankees Select Ryan Weber

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The Yankees announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Ryan Weber from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Fellow righty Jonathan Loaisiga was transferred from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day IL in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

It’s a familiar story for Weber, who spent the 2022 season with the Yankees and was selected to the Major League roster on four different occasions. Because he’s out of minor league options, Weber was designated for assignment and passed through outright waivers each time, opting all four times to briefly elect free agency but immediately re-sign with the Yankees on a new minor league deal.

For all of last year’s trips through the DFA carousel, Weber only got into five games with the Yankees. He pitched quite well, holding opponents to one run in 10 2/3 innings of work over that quintet of appearances. He was also sharp in Triple-A, sporting a 3.86 ERA in 39 2/3 frames for the RailRiders in 2022.

The 2023 season hasn’t begun as well for Weber. He’s made seven starts and compiled 34 1/3 innings with an ugly 5.77 ERA to show for it. He’s picked up the pace over his past four turns, however, yielding 10 runs through 22 2/3 frames (3.97 ERA) with a 13-to-3 K/BB ratio. Weber has never missed many bats, but he possesses good command and regularly posts above-average ground-ball rates — which has also been the case in these season’s handful of starts with Scranton.

The Yankees don’t need a starter in the next few days, but they’ve relied heavily on their bullpen this week. Weber will give them some length in the event of another high-scoring game. Last year’s usage of Weber tells us that this could be another brief stay on the roster, but Weber and the Yankees clearly have a good working relationship, so even if he’s designated for assignment in the near future, there’s a good chance he’d just wind up back in Scranton, be it via accepting an outright assignment or electing free agency and re-upping on a new minor league pact.

Angels, Reyes Moronta Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Angels have agreed to a minor league contract with right-hander Reyes Moronta, MLBTR has learned. The 30-year-old righty had been in spring training with the Rangers but signed with the Mexican League’s Diablos Rojos after being cut loose by Texas. He posted a 2.35 ERA with a 13-to-5 K/BB ratio in 7 2/3 innings there before being picked up by the Halos.

Moronta was a high-end setup man for the Giants from 2017-19, pitching to a combined 2.66 ERA with a 29.8% strikeout rate and a fastball that averaged 97.1 mph over the life of 128 1/3 innings. Command was an issue for the big righty, evidenced by a 13.6% walk rate in that time, but his ability to miss bats still helped him move from lower-leverage spots into a position that allowed him to pick up a save and 27 holds during that time.

Shoulder surgery ended Moronta’s 2019 season a few weeks early and wiped out nearly all of his 2020-21 seasons, however. He returned to toss four innings with the Giants in 2021, allowing just one run in that time but also sporting a fastball that clocked it at an average of 94.3 mph — a nearly three mile-per-hour drop. The Giants removed him from the 40-man roster in September, and Moronta cleared outright waivers and subsequently elected free agency at season’s end.

The Dodgers signed Moronta to a minor league deal once the 2021-22 lockout was lifted, and less than three weeks into the season he’d made it up to their big league bullpen. He spent the next couple months as an up-and-down arm in L.A. before ultimately being designated for assignment and claimed off waivers by the D-backs. Overall, his 2022 campaign ended with 37 2/3 frames of 4.30 ERA ball, a 23.6% strikeout rate and an 11.2% walk rate. Moronta regained a bit of life on his heater, but last year’s 95.3 mph average was still a ways off from its peak levels.

The Angels have already lost Jose Quijada and Austin Warren to Tommy John surgery, and they’re also currently without veteran lefty Aaron Loup, who’s on the IL with a hamstring strain. They may also have to dip into their bullpen to stretch out Chase Silseth as a starter, with Jose Suarez on the shelf due to a shoulder strain.

Angels relievers still rank sixth in the Majors with a combined 3.24 ERA, but the group isn’t as deep as it was to begin the season. Adding Moronta, who has a career 3.02 ERA and 28.1% strikeout rate, to see if he can recapture some of his pre-surgery form makes for a sensible depth option.

Marlins To Promote Eury Pérez

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The Marlins announced to reporters, including Craig Mish of the Miami Herald, they are calling up pitching prospect Eury Pérez. He’ll take the ball for Friday’s game. He’s not currently on the 40-man roster and will require a corresponding move to be added.

Both this move and Pérez himself are unique in a few respects. The promotion is an aggressive one given that the right-hander only just turned 20 years old last month and has yet to pitch in Triple-A. That makes him unusually young for a major league debut, with JJ Cooper of Baseball America pointing out Pérez is about to be the youngest starting pitcher in the majors since Julio Urías in 2016. The pitcher himself is also unique in terms of his size, listed at 6’8″ and 220 pounds.

Signed as an international amateur out of the Dominican Republic in July of 2019, he wasn’t able to make his professional debut until over a year later since the minor leagues were canceled by the pandemic in 2020. The Marlins sent him to Single-A to begin 2021 and he dominated in his 15 starts there. He posted a 1.61 ERA in 56 innings, striking out 36.9% of opponents while walking 9.5% and getting grounders at a 36.4% clip. He was then given the ball for five High-A starts at the end of the year, posting a 2.86 ERA in those.

Going into 2022, he was already considered by many observers to be one of the better pitching prospects in the league, but he continued to raise his stock. Despite just being 19 years old for most of last year, he made 17 starts at the Double-A level. He posted a 4.08 ERA in those along with a 34.1% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate and 41.4% ground ball rate.

Coming into 2023, the youngster was unanimously considered to be one of the best prospects in the league. Baseball America ranked him #7 overall and he’s since moved up to #6. MLB Pipeline had him at #13 and he’s now in the top 10. He was #4 at FanGraphs, #6 at ESPN and Keith Law of The Athletic had him at #10. The reports highlight his fastball, which he can not only ramp up to triple digits but also command exceptionally well. Most observers agree that his changeup is his best secondary pitch, though his slider and curveball both get good reviews as well. By all accounts, Pérez has the ingredients to be a future ace and he keeps proving it. Through his six Double-A starts this year, he has a 2.32 ERA, 35.9% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate and 51.6% ground ball rate.

That being said, not all prospects hit the ground running as soon as they reach the majors and it’s not something that should be expected for even the top names. That’s especially true for Pérez given his youth and relative inexperience. His entire professional track record consists of just 186 innings at this point, including just 77 last year, and none of that was at Triple-A. He’s yet to truly test his stuff against big league caliber hitters and it remains to be seen how many innings the Marlins will let him rack up this year. Nonetheless, it will be very exciting to see how the gamble pays off for them.

The club has had a strong rotation for many years and felt good enough about their options that they traded Pablo López to the Twins this winter in order to obtain Luis Arraez. However, they’ve been dealing with a few challenges this year, as both Trevor Rogers and Johnny Cueto are on the injured list with uncertain return timelines. Jesús Luzardo is having a nice season so far but Sandy Alcantara hasn’t quite been his Cy Young self, while Braxton Garrett and Edward Cabrera have each posted middling results so far.

Pérez will now step into that mix and see how he fares, with his performance likely to have some impact on whether this is a brief cup of coffee or if he’s up for good. Since the season is over a month old at this point, Pérez won’t be able to accrue a full year of service time the old fashioned way, though the new collective bargaining agreement affords him a path to get there. A player with less than 60 days of service time who is on two of the top 100 prospect lists at BA, MLB or ESPN will get a full year of service, regardless of the time they spend on the roster, if they finish in the top two in Rookie of the Year voting. Pérez was on all three of those lists and is therefore eligible, but it will be a challenge to rank that highly given the late start. He’ll be competing with players like Corbin Carroll and James Outman who have already had plenty of time to bank stats this year.

Even if he finished the year shy of the one-year mark, his youth would still put him on a good trajectory. If he’s up for good, he would almost certainly qualify for arbitration as a Super Two player after the 2025 campaign and be on pace for free agency after 2029, which would be his age-26 season. Future optional assignments could push those targets further into the future, though he could also reach free agency after 2028 by succeeding in getting that full year here in 2023.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Taylor Motter Accepts Outright Assignment

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Cardinals utilityman Taylor Motter has accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Memphis, the club informed reporters (including Jeff Jones of the Belleville News Democrat). He remains in the organization without occupying a spot on the 40-man roster.

St. Louis had designated Motter for assignment last weekend. He cleared waivers on Monday but had the right to test free agency as a player who has gone unclaimed on outright waivers multiple times in his career. After some time to consider the decision, he’ll stick in the system and try to play his way back onto the big league roster.

Motter signed a minor league deal with St. Louis last offseason. He’s twice gotten onto the MLB roster but been DFA rather quickly both times. Over his two stints, he’s played in eight games and tallied a .200/.273/.300 batting line through 22 trips to the plate. That brings his career slash to .191/.263/.309 in 169 major league contests. The right-handed hitter is far more accomplished at the Triple-A level. He’s a .262/.352/.482 hitter in more than 2000 Triple-A plate appearances over parts of six seasons.

Among the reasons for Motter’s initial stint on the MLB roster was a season-opening injured list stay for Paul DeJong. The Cards reinstated DeJong a couple weeks ago and have seen their one-time starting shortstop get off to a scorching start in a utility role. Through 12 games, DeJong has already picked up three homers and sports a .350/.409/.650 line overall.

That’s miles better than the .182/.269/.352 slash DeJong had mustered from 2021-22. While it’s too early to draw firm conclusions, he’s obviously off to a much stronger start than anticipated, a particularly welcome development in the final guaranteed season of his contract.

Mets Select Michael Pérez

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The Mets announced that they have selected the contract of catcher Michael Pérez. He will take the roster spot of fellow backstop Tomás Nido who has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 7, due to dry eye syndrome. Right-hander Elieser Hernández was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot for Pérez. Tim Healey of Newsday previously reported that Pérez was with the club in Cincinnati while Mike Puma of the New York Post first reported on Nido’s IL placement.

The Mets will now be without both of their Opening Day catchers, as Omar Narváez landed on the IL after just five games due to a significant calf strain and Nido now joins him on the shelf. The injury to Narváez opened playing time for prospect Francisco Álvarez but now Nido’s absence will require the club to reach into its depth yet again.

Pérez, 30, was acquired from the Pirates in a trade last July but was outrighted by the club in October. He became a free agent in the winter but rejoined the Mets on a minor league deal and has been playing in Triple-A so far this year. In 19 games for Syracuse, he’s hit just .153/.261/.254, but with encouraging peripherals. He’s walked at a strong 13% clip and struck out in just 17.4% of his plate appearances, with that paltry batting line being weighed down by a .152 batting average on balls in play.

He’s seen part-time action in the big leagues in each of the five previous seasons, suiting up for the Rays, Pirates and Mets. He owns a career batting line of .174/.244/.301 over 591 plate appearances in the big leagues. On the defensive side of things, his framing is considered subpar but he’s been worth four Defensive Runs Saved in his career and grades out well on Statcast’s new caught stealing above average metric. He’ll figures to serve as the backup to Álvarez at least until one of Narváez or Nido get back. He still has an option year remaining and could potentially be sent back to Syracuse easily when that time comes.

As for Nido, he’s out to a terrible start this year, hitting just .118/.148/.118. Perhaps this vision issue provides some explanation for why he’s so far off his career line of .213/.250/.309. It doesn’t seem to be especially serious, as manager Buck Showalter expects him to be fine in three or four days, per Healey.

As for Hernández, he’s been on the injured list all year so far due to a right shoulder strain. He doesn’t seem especially close to a return, given that he hasn’t even begun a rehab assignment. The 60-day count begins from his initial IL placement, meaning he’ll be eligible to return in a few weeks if he’s healthy.

Red Sox Designate Zack Littell For Assignment

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The Red Sox have informed reporters, including Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe, that they have designated right-hander Zack Littell for assignment. His roster spot will go to left-hander James Paxton, who has been reinstated and is set to start Friday’s game.

It’s a very quick turnaround for Littell, 27, who was with the Rangers on a minor league deal until the Red Sox traded for him last week, sending cash considerations the other way and adding Littell to their roster. He made two appearances for the Sox since then, allowing three earned runs in three innings with three hits, three walks and a couple of strikeouts. He now loses his roster spot just a few days after getting it. Since he’s out of options, this was the only way to quickly get his spot open for Paxton.

Prior to that shaky showing with Boston, he had been getting solid results in the minors. In 12 innings with the Round Rock Express, he had a 2.25 ERA with a 33.3% strikeout rate, 4.2% walk rate and 41.4% ground ball rate. He has 172 2/3 innings of major league experience dating back to 2018 with a 4.17 ERA in that time, striking out 20.8% of opponents while walking 8.6% and getting grounders at a 42.6% clip.

The Sox will now have one week to trade Littell or pass him through waivers. He has a previous career outright and could therefore reject another such assignment in favor of free agency in the event that he clears waivers.

As for Paxton, he will be appearing in a major league game for the first time in over two years. He underwent Tommy John surgery in April of 2021 while with the Mariners, then signed a complicated deal with the Red Sox while rehabbing. He was working his way back to health last year when a lat tear scuttled those plans. The Sox then declined a two-year, $26MM option but the lefty triggered his $4MM player option. The injury parade continued in the spring, when he suffered a hamstring strain that’s kept him out of action until now.

His return will have repercussions for the club’s other pitchers since manager Alex Cora recently told reporters, including Rob Bradford of WEEI, that he doesn’t plan on using a six-man rotation going forward. For the moment, Paxton will slot into the mix alongside Chris Sale, Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello, Corey Kluber and Nick Pivetta, with Garrett Whitlock also expected to return from the IL in the near future. With seven options for five jobs, the Sox will have to pick a couple of them to either be moved to the bullpen or optioned to the minors, with those decisions seemingly still up in the air.

Blue Jays Sign Wes Parsons To Minor League Deal

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The Blue Jays have signed right-hander Wes Parsons to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He’s been assigned to the club’s Florida Complex League affiliate but will presumably head to Triple-A once he gets into game shape.

Parsons, 30, was an undrafted free agent who nonetheless worked his way up to the major leagues a few years ago. He tossed 39 2/3 innings over the 2018 and 2019 seasons for Atlanta and Colorado. He posted an ERA of 5.67 in that time along with a 16.1% strikeout rate, 17.8% walk rate and 45.6% ground ball rate. He was in the Rockies’ player pool during the 2020 season but didn’t get called up to the majors.

The righty went to Korea in 2021, signing with the NC Dinos of the KBO League and having some good results over there. He worked out of their rotation in 2021, tossing 133 innings over 24 starts with a 3.72 ERA. He struck out 148 of the 577 batters he faced, a 26.4% rate, though the 63 walks still amount to a high rate of 10.9%. He re-signed with the Dinos for 2022 but was only able to make eight starts with a 3.56 ERA. He was released in August while dealing with a back injury so the club could replace him with Matt Dermody, per Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News. KBO teams only have three roster spots for foreign players and needed to remove the injured Parsons to get Dermody aboard.

Parsons will now return to North America by entering the farm system of the Blue Jays. It’s unclear if they are interested in him as a starter or reliever, but he will give them some non-roster depth either way. The club’s rotation is fairly stable at the moment, with Alek Manoah, Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, José Berríos and Yusei Kikuchi all healthy and depth starter Mitch White currently rehabbing in the minors. The relief corps has had a couple of recent injuries with Zach Pop and Adam Cimber on the injured list. Thomas Hatch and Trent Thornton are depth options on the 40-man roster, though White is out of options and will need a roster spot when his rehab is up, which could lead to the recently-recalled Jay Jackson getting optioned back to Buffalo in the near future.

White Sox Designate Alex Colome For Assignment

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The White Sox designated right-hander Alex Colome for assignment and selected the contract of outfielder Jake Marisnick from Triple-A Charlotte on Wednesday, per a team announcement. Marisnick will join the active roster as fellow fleet-footed, veteran outfielder Billy Hamilton heads to the 10-day injured list due to a hamstring strain. Chicago has also recalled righty Nick Padilla from Charlotte.

Colome’s reunion with the ChiSox, for whom he closed games in 2019-20, proved to be short-lived. The 34-year-old’s contract was selected earlier this month, and he’s since tossed three innings with four runs allowed (two earned) on two hits and three walks. His 93.9 mph average fastball in that time ties a career-low from the 2021 season.

While Colome notched a pristine 2.27 ERA in 83 1/3 innings during his original run with the White Sox, there were longstanding indicators that he’d be hard-pressed to sustain that success. The right-hander had sub-par strikeout and walk rates during that two-year stretch and yielded plenty of hard contact, allowing an average of 90.2 mph off the bat. The market seemingly agreed, as despite his sharp bottom-line numbers in his run-up to free agency, Colome settled for an affordable one-year deal with the Twins late in the offseason.

The results in Minnesota were pedestrian, and Colome hasn’t found much success since. Dating back to 2021, he’s sitting on a 4.85 ERA with a 17.7% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate. His 55.1% ground-ball rate remains excellent, but the remainder of his profile hasn’t been encouraging. The White Sox will have a week to trade him or else pass him through outright or release waivers. Colome can reject an assignment to the minors even if he goes unclaimed.

Marisnick, 32, will bring a similar skill set to that of Hamilton to the White Sox. While he’s not quite as fast as Hamilton, he’s a premier defensive center fielder whose offensive shortcomings have largely outweighed his proficiency in the outfield and on the basepaths. He’s out to a nice .264/.407/.391 start in Charlotte so far this season, but over the past five big league seasons Marisnick is a .228/.285/.406 hitter.

Marisnick does have some power against lefties, and he also boasts career marks of 50 Defensive Runs Saved and 35 Outs Above Average in center field. His .224/.274/.366 career output against right-handed pitching leaves plenty to be desired, but he’s not a bad fourth outfielder if a team is comfortable limiting him to a rather strict platoon arrangement.

Rays Sign Jake Diekman To Major League Deal

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May 10: The Rays have now officially signed Diekman, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The corresponding move had been reported earlier today as righty Chase Anderson getting designated for assignment, which is also now official.

May 9: The Rays are finalizing a major league deal with left-hander Jake Diekman, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN, who adds that the deal is expected to be finalized in the next 48 hours. Once the move is official, a corresponding move or moves will be required to get the southpaw onto the active and 40-man rosters.

Diekman, 36, began the season with the White Sox but was released after posting a 7.94 ERA in 13 outings. In spite of those unfortunate results, he has quickly found a new home with the Rays. As Passan points out, Tampa recently got the unfortunate news that left-hander Garrett Cleavinger will likely miss the rest of the season due to an injury to the ACL in his right knee. In order to counteract that blow to their lefty relief mix, they’ll insert Diekman into Cleavinger’s spot.

It won’t be any kind of significant commitment from the Rays since Diekman already has a salary of $3.5MM this year and a $1MM buyout on an option for 2024 as part of the deal he signed with the Red Sox going into 2022. Since the White Sox released him, they will be on the hook for the majority of that, with the Rays only responsible for the prorated league minimum for any time Diekman is on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Sox pay.

Diekman has been a useful reliever in the past and the Rays will surely be hoping to find a way to get him back to that previous form. Control has always been an issue for the lefty as he only once posted a walk rate below 10%, which was way back in 2013, and his career walk rate currently sits at 13.3%. But he’s been most successful when overcoming those walks by racking up strikeouts. From 2012 to 2022, he struck out between 25% and 32% of batters faced in each full season, as well as punching out 36.9% in the shortened 2020 campaign. However, it’s been just 19% in the early going here in 2023.

Despite that fairly consistent strikeout stuff, the walks have caused his ERAs to fluctuate wildly over the years. He’s finished above 4.00 in four of the last seven full seasons while getting as low as 2.53 in 2017 and a sparkling 0.42 figure in the truncated 2020 year.

Since the Rays will be paying him the league minimum, there’s very little risk in giving him a shot to see if he can get a better handle on his stuff. If it doesn’t work out, they can quickly make him another casualty of the ongoing roster churn they do at the fringes of their roster without really losing anything.

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