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Athletics Designate Austin Allen For Assignment, Outright Mickey McDonald

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The A’s announced they’ve designated catcher Austin Allen for assignment. Reliever Jake Lemoine was also optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas as the team trimmed its active roster count from 28 to 26. Additionally, Oakland announced that outfielder Mickey McDonald, who was designated for assignment over the weekend, has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Las Vegas.

Like most of the players who have been DFA in recent days, Allen is out of minor league option years. That meant Oakland was left to either carry him on the active roster or take him off the 40-man and risk losing him to another club. With the roster cutdown necessitating sending two players out, the A’s have decided on the latter course of action.

Oakland acquired Allen from the Padres over the 2019-20 offseason in the deal that sent utilityman Jurickson Profar to San Diego. He has been on the 40-man roster in the two and a half years since then, although he’s only tallied 56 MLB plate appearances over 23 games. The lefty-hitting backstop spent most of the 2020 campaign at the alternate training site, then spent the bulk of last year at Las Vegas.

Stashing Allen as minor league depth wasn’t an available course of action this time around. He spent a few days on the restricted/COVID-19 lists but otherwise has been on the active roster, primarily as the #3 catcher. Sean Murphy is the obvious #1 backstop in Oakland. Christian Bethancourt, who signed a minor league deal and was selected to the majors when Allen hit the restricted list, has gotten into 13 games between catcher, first base and designated hitter; Allen has suited up just five times, an indication that Bethancourt had surpassed him as the #2 option. Veteran Stephen Vogt is currently on the injured list with a knee sprain but will be in that mix once he’s healthy.

Allen, 28, has only mustered a .195/.252/.288 line with a 37% strikeout rate in 127 MLB plate appearances. He’s never really had an extended opportunity to settle in, though, with his 34 games for San Diego in 2019 marking a career-high. The Missouri native has a massive .323/.365/.623 line in nearly 600 Triple-A plate appearances, including a .317/.351/.584 mark with the Aviators last year.

Vegas’ extreme hitter-friendly environment no doubt played a role, but it’s possible Allen’s strong minor league resume will convince another team to take a look. Prospect evaluators have generally not been enthused with his defense, but a team that views him as a capable gloveman behind the dish could be willing to devote him a roster spot as a bat-first depth option. Oakland will have a week to trade Allen or try to run him through waivers.

McDonald made his MLB debut last month, tallying six plate appearances over four games. He didn’t collect a hit but drew a pair of walks. McDonald has never previously been outrighted, so he’ll have to report back to Las Vegas and try to earn another look in the big leagues. The 26-year-old hit .333/.423/.438 in 228 Triple-A plate appearances last season, but he’s struggled in ten games there this year.

Dodgers Designate Carson Fulmer For Assignment

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The Dodgers have designated reliever Carson Fulmer for assignment, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times was among those to relay. Utilityman Zach McKinstry was also optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City to comply with the reduction in active roster sizes from 28 to 26.

Fulmer’s stay in the majors lasted just two days, as Los Angeles selected him when Mitch White hit the COVID-19 injured list on Saturday. He didn’t wind up making an appearance, and his time in the organization could now be coming to its end. While L.A. didn’t need to clear 40-man roster space, Fulmer was out of minor league option years. The only way to take him off the big league club was to remove him from the 40-man entirely.

Los Angeles acquired Fulmer in the Triple-A phase of the Rule 5 draft, which took place during the lockout. The Dodgers selected him out of the Reds organization after Cincinnati had passed him through outright waivers last May. He opened the 2022 campaign with Oklahoma City and tossed 11 2/3 innings over eight appearances. The righty allowed four runs (three earned) and struck out 12 batters but issued eight walks.

The eighth overall pick in the 2015 draft by the White Sox, Fulmer appeared in the majors every year from 2016-21. He has 130 2/3 MLB innings under his belt, although he’s managed just a 6.41 ERA with a subpar 19.2% strikeout rate and a lofty 13.4% walk percentage. The Dodgers will presumably place him on waivers in the coming days; Fulmer would have the right to refuse a minor league assignment if he clears after having been outrighted in the past.

Marlins Designate Shawn Armstrong For Assignment

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The Marlins announced they’ve designated reliever Shawn Armstrong for assignment. Miami also optioned bullpen arm Zach Pop to Triple-A Jacksonville. The moves satisfy the requirement to cut active rosters from 28 to 26, and Armstrong’s designation brings Miami’s 40-man roster total to 39.

A designation was the only way to remove Armstrong from the big league roster. Like many of the players who have lost their 40-man spots in recent days, he is out of minor league option years. Once the Fish determined that Armstrong wasn’t going to stick in the majors, they had no choice but to risk losing him on waivers.

Armstrong made seven appearances during the season’s first month. He served up ten runs (eight of them earned) in 6 2/3 innings, striking out five while issuing three walks. The 31-year-old had a longer run in the majors last year, tallying 36 frames of 6.75 ERA ball between the Orioles and Rays. Outrighted by Tampa Bay at the end of the season, he hooked on with Miami via minor league deal in Spring Training and cracked the Opening Day roster.

While Armstrong hasn’t gotten great results at the MLB level over the past couple seasons, he posted excellent numbers in Triple-A last year. The righty has also averaged a personal-high 94.9 MPH on his fastball thus far in 2022. If another team doesn’t take a shot on Armstrong via waivers in the coming days, he’d have the right to refuse a minor league assignment by virtue of his previous career outrights.

Rays Option Josh Lowe, Designate Robert Dugger

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The Rays have optioned rookie outfielder Josh Lowe to Triple-A Durham and designated right-hander Robert Dugger for assignment, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The moves reduce the Rays’ active roster count from 28 to 26.

Lowe, one of the sport’s top prospects, broke camp with the big league club after Tampa Bay’s late-spring trade of Austin Meadows to Detroit. The lefty-hitting outfielder has gotten off to a slow start, however, hitting .188/.257/.344 with one home run over 71 plate appearances. Lowe’s 38% strikeout percentage and 67.9% contact rate are both far worse than this year’s respective league averages (22.9% and 75.8%). Lowe also had an elevated 26.2% strikeout rate in Triple-A last year, but he more than offset that with 22 homers, 26 stolen bases and a robust 13% walk percentage.

There’s still plenty of time for the 24-year-old to put things together well enough and allow his combination of power, athleticism, and plate discipline to overcome swing-and-miss issues. Yet for the time being, the Rays will get him more run against minor league pitching to try to work through those contact concerns. Tampa Bay will proceed with an outfield of Kevin Kiermaier, Manuel Margot, Randy Arozarena, Harold Ramírez and Brett Phillips. Of that group, only Arozarena could be optioned, making Lowe the odd man out as rosters shrunk if the Rays didn’t want to risk losing Ramírez or Phillips on waivers.

Between Lowe’s early struggles and the Rays’ outfield depth, there’s a case to be made for his option strictly from a baseball perspective. Depending upon how long he’s in the minor leagues, though, the assignment could have an effect on his window of team control.

Lowe entered this season with 26 days of MLB service, MLBTR has learned. Players are credited with a full service year upon reaching 172 days on an active roster. That means he needs to spend at least 146 days in the majors this season to end the 2022 campaign with over one year of service. Lowe spent around 25 days on the roster before being optioned, leaving him approximately 121 days from the one-year threshold. There’s still time to reach that mark, but if the optional assignment lingers into June, Lowe’s path to free agency after the 2027 season could come into question.

Dugger was just added to the big league club yesterday. He worked 5 1/3 innings of three-run ball in mop-up relief during the team’s loss to the Twins. That seemed as if it’d make him a quick DFA candidate, considering his 87 pitches took him out of commission for a few days. Dugger couldn’t be optioned, so the only way to take him off the active roster was via DFA.

Tampa Bay signed Dugger to a minor league contract in Spring Training. The 26-year-old has made five appearances and worked 16 frames with Durham, posting a 3.94 ERA with 13 strikeouts and seven walks. By calling him up yesterday, the Rays assume the risk of losing him from the organization. They’ll presumably place him on waivers in the coming days, and Dugger would have the right to refuse a new minor league assignment if he passes through unclaimed by virtue of having previously been outrighted in his career.

Diamondbacks Designate Matt Davidson For Assignment

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The D-Backs announced they’ve designated corner infielder Matt Davidson for assignment. Coupled with the optioning of right-hander Taylor Widener to Triple-A Reno, the Snakes have gotten their active roster down from 28 to 26 players. Davidson’s DFA also clears a 40-man roster spot; Arizona’s tally now sits at 38, although they’ll eventually need to reinstate relievers Mark Melancon and J.B. Wendelken from the COVID-19 injured list.

Davidson’s latest stay in the majors lasted a little under two weeks. Arizona selected him to the big leagues in late April, and he ultimately appeared in five games. The 31-year-old collected one hit (a homer off Josh Rogers) while drawing three walks in 13 plate appearances. That marked Davidson’s first MLB action since he suited up in 22 games for the Reds two seasons ago.

The right-handed hitter was a regular for the White Sox from 2017-18 but has otherwise picked up scant playing time in the majors. In a little under 1100 career plate appearances, Davidson owns a .222/.292/.433 line. He’s popped 53 homers with an impressive .211 ISO, but he’s also fanned in 34.1% of his trips to the plate. To his credit, he had gotten off to an incredible .386/.471/.955 start in Reno to earn his latest promotion.

Davidson is out of minor league options, so the Snakes had to remove him from the 40-man roster to take him off the big league club. They’ll presumably place him on waivers in the coming days. He’d have the right to refuse an outright assignment if he passes through waivers unclaimed.

Brewers Designate Jose Ureña For Assignment

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The Brewers designated righty José Ureña for assignment, according to Will Sammon of The Athletic.  Additionally, Luis Urías has returned from his IL stint and figures to reassume his role as the team’s primary third baseman.

Ureña signed a minor league deal with Milwaukee in Spring Training but was selected onto the big league roster the following day. Ticketed for relief work thanks to the Brew Crew’s loaded rotation, Ureña wound up making just four appearances. He tallied 7 2/3 innings of five-run ball, walking five batters while striking out only three. He generated swinging strikes on a below-average 9.1% of his offerings.

While Ureña has never had especially strong control or swing-and-miss numbers, he has typically managed high-end ground-ball rates throughout his career. Early on in his Milwaukee tenure, though, his grounder rate sat at a league average 42.9%. Ultimately, the Brewers decided to move forward without the 30-year-old as part of today’s deadline to trim active rosters from 28 to 26 players.

Ureña will now be traded or placed on waivers in the coming days. As a player with more than five big league service years, he has the right to refuse an outright assignment even if he passes through waivers unclaimed. Ureña has averaged north of 96 MPH on his fastball through the season’s first few weeks, so he figures to at least attract interest on a minor league deal if another club isn’t willing to grant him an immediate MLB roster spot.

Urías missed the season’s first month due to a left quad issue. He’s now in line to make his season debut after positing a career-best .249/.345/.445 showing over 570 plate appearances in 2021. His return will be a welcome development for a Brewers team that has gotten a meager .182/.289/.227 line from its replacement third basemen — primarily Jace Peterson and Mike Brosseau — thus far.

Tigers Designate Dustin Garneau For Assignment

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The Tigers designated catcher Dustin Garneau for assignment, according to an announcement from the team.  Additionally, lefty Tyler Alexander hit the IL for an elbow sprain, bringing the team’s active roster down to 26 players.

The Tigers’ three-catcher plan has come to an end, with Tucker Barnhart and Eric Haase remaining to handle duties behind the plate.  Garneau, 34, has led a journeyman MLB career, accumulating 506 big league plate appearances across eight seasons for six different teams.   He’s never topped the 126 plate appearances he received in 2017 for the Rockies and A’s.  Garneau had joined the Tigers last August as part of a full-circle series of transactions.

Even at age 34, an experienced catcher like Garneau with a “have glove, will travel” mindset is usually able to find a spot in an MLB organization, with the position always in short supply.  And there’s always the possibility he clears waivers and remains with the Tigers.  Though not known for his defense, the 29-year-old Haase will be Barnhart’s sole backup behind the dish, even though Haase has spent more time at left field than catcher so far this year.

Orioles Designate Kelvin Gutierrez For Assignment

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The Orioles designated third baseman Kelvin Gutierrez for assignment, according to an announcement from the team.  The move brings the Orioles down to the necessary 26 players, the deadline for which is fast approaching.  As Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com notes, the move also brings the Orioles’ 40-man roster down to 39 players.

Gutierrez, 27, was acquired by the Orioles from the Royals last July for cash considerations after Kansas City had designated him for assignment.  He joined the O’s in late August and quickly became the team’s regular third baseman – more of an indictment of Baltimore’s lack of MLB talent at the position than an endorsement of Gutierrez’s abilities.  This year, Ramon Urias has been drawing the bulk of the Orioles’ starts at third base.

A 2013 amateur signing by the Nationals out of the Dominican Republic, Gutierrez joined the Royals five years later in a trade involving veteran reliever Kelvin Herrera.  He emerged as a 40-grade, big league capable prospect, known mostly for solid third base defense and a strong arm.  Never really having shown an above average bat in the high minors, it’s not a big surprise that Gutierrez sports just a 65 wRC+ in 419 big league plate appearances to date.  Since Gutierrez is out of minor league options, the Orioles didn’t have the ability to send him to the minors without exposing him to waivers.

Anthony Alford Elects Free Agency

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Outfielder Anthony Alford has elected to become a free agent rather than accepting the Pirates’ outright assignment to Triple-A, John Dreker of the Pirates Prospects site reports (Twitter link).  Pittsburgh designated Alford for assignment last week, and he cleared DFA waivers yesterday without being claimed.

Since this isn’t the first time Alford has been outrighted off a team’s 40-man roster, he had the option of deciding whether to accept the Pirates’ assignment, or entering the open market in search of another opportunity elsewhere.  While it’s possible Alford could end up re-signing with the Bucs, his decision to test free agency likely ends his tenure in Pittsburgh after less than two years.

The Pirates acquired Alford via waiver claim in August 2020, taking him off the Blue Jays’ roster after Toronto had also designated the outfielder.  The Jays made Alford a third-round pick in the 2012 draft, and he drew three years’ worth of top-100 prospect attention from multiple pundits as he continued to move up the ladder in the Toronto farm system.  However, injuries also curtailed his progress, and ultimately limited Alford to only 46 Major League games in a Blue Jays uniform from 2017-20.

The outfielder got only slightly more of a look with the Pirates, playing 56 games and receiving 165 plate appearances in a Pittsburgh uniform over the last three seasons.  Alford’s .235/.309/.423 slash line in that span was only slightly below (97 OPS+) league-average production, but it also wasn’t enough for the Pirates to keep him around ahead of younger players.

Now 27 years old, Alford will move on to see if the third time is the charm with his baseball career.  Speculatively, the Braves could be a potential fit given how president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos was the Blue Jays’ GM when Toronto initially drafted Alford.  Any number of other clubs could also be willing to take a flier on a former top prospect, and try to translate Alford’s obvious athletic ability into consistent success on the field.

Guardians Designate Logan Allen, Bobby Bradley For Assignment

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The Guardians have designated left-hander Logan Allen and first baseman Bobby Bradley for assignment.  In another roster move, righty Anthony Castro was activated from the COVID-related injured list, and then optioned to Triple-A.

In the short term, the Guardians have reduced their roster from 28 to 26 players in advance of tomorrow’s roster reduction deadline.  In the bigger picture, however, these moves could mark the organizational end of two players who (not long ago) were considered two possible building blocks.  Both Allen and Bradley were former top-100 ranked prospects, but that promise didn’t translate into consistent MLB success.  Allen and Bradley are both out of minor league options, so Cleveland had to expose them to the DFA wire in order to try and send either player to Triple-A.

Allen was an eighth-round pick for the Red Sox in 2015, and he has thus far been involved in two major trades in his young career.  Allen was one of the four prospects Boston sent to the Padres for Craig Kimbrel in November 2015, and Allen was then one of the seven names involved in the huge three-team swap between San Diego, Cincinnati, and Cleveland prior to the 2019 trade deadline.  That deal saw Cleveland end up with Franmil Reyes, Yasiel Puig, prospects Scott Moss and Victor Nova, plus Allen, who had made his Major League debut earlier that year with the Padres.

After the trade, Allen appeared in one game with his new team in 2019, then only three games in the shortened 2020 season.  Last year was Allen’s first semi-extended look at the big league level, and he posted a 6.26 ERA, 16.7% strikeout rate, and 7.7% walk rate over 50 1/3 innings.  That walk rate was a positive sign considering some of the control problems Allen had faced in the minors, but as had been the case for Allen at Triple-A, his time in the majors was hampered by the long ball.  The southpaw allowed 12 home runs over his 50 1/3 frames.

Between the lack of success in both the majors and at Triple-A Columbus, Allen became an expendable piece for a Guardians organization that is brimming with young talent.  The same could be said of Bradley, as Owen Miller and Josh Naylor have emerged as the Guards’ preferred options at first base only about a season after Bradley was seen as a first baseman of the future.

A third-round pick in the 2014 draft, Bradley displayed plenty of power in the minor leagues, even if his batting averages and on-base numbers weren’t always as impressive.  A big Triple-A season in 2019 earned him a call-up and a 15-game cup of coffee in Cleveland, but Bradley didn’t see any game action at all in 2020 — the minor league season was canceled, and the Guardians never promoted Bradley from their alternate training site.

Cleveland fans were notably impatient to see Bradley get a look in 2021, especially with Jake Bauers struggling as the team’s regular first baseman.  Once Bradley finally got his chance, however, he hit a modest .208/.294/.445 with 16 home runs in 279 PA.  His power was still apparent, but Bradley struck out 99 times, and particularly struggled against left-handed pitching.  This season, Bradley had only two hits in 17 at-bats, striking out nine times.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see either player taken via waiver claim, or for another club to work out a trade with the Guardians.  Both players are still young (both have May birthdays, with Allen turning 25 this month and Bradley 26), and they have each shown enough flashes of promise that a new team might think the flaws can be fixed.

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