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Minor MLB Transactions: 5/3/21

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The latest minor moves from around baseball…

  • Infielder Greg Garcia opted out of his minor league contract with the Phillies, who subsequently released him, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets. Garcia spent roughly two weeks with the Phillies, though he never made it to their roster after signing April 22. The former Cardinal and Padre will return to the open market as the owner of a .245/.354/.339 line in 1,303 plate appearances.

Earlier transactions:

  • JT Riddle and Tzu-Wei Lin both cleared waivers after being designated for assignment by the Twins earlier this week, according to SKOR North’s Darren Wolfson (Twitter links).  The infielders will be assigned to the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate in St. Paul for the start of the minor league season.  Riddle and Lin signed minors deals with Minnesota in December, and each had their contracts selected in April as the Twins looked to fill some roster holes created by injuries and a COVID-19 outbreak.  Riddle appeared in four games before landing on the COVID injured list himself, while Lin appeared in just one game as a defensive sub.

Twins Announce Series Of Roster Moves

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The Twins announced a series of roster moves Friday, most notably reinstating outfielders Max Kepler and Kyle Garlick from the Covid-19 list. To make room on the active roster, outfielder/first baseman Brent Rooker and catcher Ryan Jeffers were optioned to Triple-A St. Paul. Meanwhile, infielders JT Riddle and Tzu-Wei Lin have been designated for assignment, while catching prospect Ben Rortvedt has been recalled from Triple-A for his big league debut.

Kepler, 28, hasn’t played in a game since April 16 but will now return to his role as Minnesota’s everyday right fielder. He’s not out to a great start, slashing .234/.315/.362 through his first couple weeks of play, but that’s a sample of just 54 plate appearances. From 2019-20, he turned in a much stronger .246/.332/.499 batting line and clouted 45 homers in 792 plate appearances while playing strong defense in right field.

Garlick, meanwhile, was out to a solid .280/.321/.400 start through 28 trips to the plate and was getting some run as a right-handed bat against lefties. He’ll continue on in that role, giving the Twins a right-handed bat to take some reps in left field. That spot has been occupied by top prospect Alex Kirilloff as of late, but Kirilloff can also play some first base in the absence of Miguel Sano. Luis Arraez could get some time in left field as well, now that the Twins’ middle infield is back to full strength.

Optioning Jeffers began to look increasingly necessary given the 23-year-old’s early struggles. The 2018 second-rounder has emerged as one of the game’s top catching prospects in recent seasons, ranking as a consensus top 100 talent heading into the 2021 season. Jeffers’ big debut effort last year helped to fuel that ranking, as he stepped up for a then-injured Mitch Garver and gave the Twins 64 plate appearances with a hearty .273/.355/.436 batting line and three home runs.

The 2021 season has been a disaster for the promising young backstop, however, as he’s mustered only a .147/.216/.176 slash through 37 plate appearances. Jeffers is still surely viewed as a key part of the organization’s future, but with the minor league season now slated to begin next week, sending Jeffers down for some regular at-bats — as opposed to splitting time with Garver — makes sense to get him on track. It’s also worth noting that he’s only played 24 games of Double-A ball and has never taken a single plate appearance in Triple-A, so he could simply need some more time to polish off his development.

With Jeffers going down, the Twins will now lean on the versatile Willians Astudillo and the young Rortvedt as backup options to Garver. The 23-year-old Rortvedt was Minnesota’s second-round pick back in 2016 and is a career .240/.315/.347 hitter in the minors who is regarded as a strong defensive backstop. He ranks 24th among Minnesota farmhands, per FanGraphs, and 26th on Baseball America’s rankings. BA calls him an “excellent receiver and blocker” with “standout defensive skills” but a limited offensive ceiling.

Turning to the pair of DFAs, neither comes as much of a surprise. Riddle was only selected to the big league roster when Andrelton Simmons initially tested positive for Covid-19, and he wound up being placed on the Covid list himself not long after. Once Riddle hit the Covid list, the Twins turned to Lin and brought him to the MLB roster. With Simmons now back in the fold alongside Jorge Polanco and utility man Luis Arraez, there’s little room for either Lin or Riddle.

Riddle went 2-for-6 with a run scored in four games with the Twins and is a career .223/.261/.355 hitter in 793  MLB plate appearances. Lin appeared in just one game and didn’t take a plate appearance. He was a .223/.298/.316 hitter in parts of four seasons with the Red Sox from 2017-20.

Twins Place Miguel Sano On IL, Promote Alex Kirilloff

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April 23: The Twins have confirmed that Sano is on the 10-day IL and that both Kirilloff and Gordon have been recalled from their alternate training site in St. Paul. Minnesota also selected the contract of infielder Tzu-Wei Lin to the big league roster and returned catcher Tomas Telis to the alternate site. Telis had been selected off the taxi squad as a replacement player for a Covid IL placement, so he can be sent back to the alternate site and removed from the 40-man roster without clearing waivers. Additionally, the Twins optioned infielder Travis Blankenhorn.

The 27-year-old Lin has seen big league time with the Red Sox in each of the past four seasons, appearing at three infield spots (second base, shortstop, third base) and batting .223/.298/.316 through 218 trips to the plate. Lin hit .300/.440/.600 in 25 spring plate appearances after signing a minor league deal with the Twins and will get his first chance at the MLB level with a club other than Boston.

April 22: The Twins will place first baseman Miguel Sano on the 10-day injured list Friday because of a strained right hamstring, Megan Ryan of the Star Tribune reports. The team will also recall outfielder Alex Kirilloff and infielder Nick Gordon, per Dan Hayes of The Athletic.

Sano suffered the injury on Tuesday, forcing him to miss the second game of the Twins’ doubleheader against the Athletics. The IL placement is the latest negative development in what has been a rough start to the season for Sano, who has batted .111/.310/.244 with two home runs and a career-low .133 ISO (down from a lifetime mark of .253) in 58 plate appearances. Sano has started the vast majority of the Twins’ games at first this year, but when he hasn’t played there, the team has used Willians Astudillo and Mitch Garver.

The 23-year-old Kirilloff, MLB.com’s 22nd-ranked prospect, appeared in two games and took three plate appearances earlier this season, but he may now get a more extensive look with outfielders Max Kepler and Kyle Garlick on the COVID-19 list. Since Minnesota took him 15th overall in the 2016 draft, Kirilloff has more than held his own in the minors with a .317/.365/.498 line and 36 home runs in 1,204 trips to the plate. He’s been ranked among the game’s best overall prospects for each of the past few seasons and made his MLB debut during the postseason last year.

Kirilloff’s impending promotion was a major factor in the Twins opting to move on from Eddie Rosario this winter, and it stands to reason that this promotion to the big leagues will now afford him the opportunity to seize an everyday role and cement his status as a long-term piece for the club. Even with last weekend’s brief promotion as the 27th man in a doubleheader, he’s spent enough time at the alternate site for the club to push his free agency back a year. If Kirilloff sticks in the big leagues from this point forth, the Twins will control him all the way through the 2027 season. He’d likely still qualify as a Super Two player, bringing him to arbitration eligibility after the 2023 campaign.

Gordon, 25, was the fifth pick in the 2014 draft, though his stock has fallen dramatically since then. Gordon did turn in a respectable .298/.342/.459 showing at Triple-A in 319 PA two years ago, but he was unable to play last season after testing positive for COVID. FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen ranked Gordon as the Twins’ 37th-best prospect back in January, writing that he “now looks like a fringe role player.”

Twins Sign Eight Players To Minor League Deals

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The Twins have signed eight players to minor league pacts with invites to Major League Spring Training, tweets Betsy Helfand of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. In addition to their previously reported deals with righty Derek Law and second baseman Tzu-Wei Lin, the Twins have re-signed left-hander Danny Coulombe, righty Juan Minaya and catcher Tomas Telis. They’ve also brought infielder/outfielder Rob Refsnyder and right-handers Glenn Sparkman and Luke Farrell into the fold.

Coulombe, 31, tossed 2 2/3 shutout innings with the Twins in 2020 but spent most of the year at their alternate training site in St. Paul. The former A’s and Dodgers lefty has a career 4.19 ERA and 4.10 FIP in 146 innings out of a big league bullpen. He’s averaged about 8.5 K/9 in that time, but Coulombe’s strikeout numbers exploded at the Triple-A level in 2019, when he punched out 61 hitters in just 36 1/3 innings while maintaining a ground-ball rate north of 50 percent. Suffice it to say, he’s an intriguing depth piece.

Minaya, 30, was selected to the Twins’ big league roster in 2020 but designated for assignment before getting into a game. Minnesota got a long look at him not only at their alternate site in St. Paul this past season but from parts of four seasons spent in the division-rival White Sox’ bullpen. Minaya has a 3.93 ERA, a 4.18 FIP and 10 strikeouts per nine innings in 128 1/3 frames at the MLB level, all coming with the South Siders.

The 29-year-old Telis hasn’t appeared in the big leagues since 2018 but spent the past two seasons in the Twins organization, including a terrific 2019 showing with their Triple-A club: .330/.364/.490 in 327 plate appearances. Telis, a career .230/.267/.298 hitter in 267 MLB plate appearances, will be behind both Mitch Garver and Ryan Jeffers on the Twins’ depth chart but gives them an experienced depth option.

New to the organization is the 29-year-old Refsnyder, who has seen big league time with the Yankees, Blue Jays, Rays and Rangers. In 457 trips to the dish, he’s a .217/.305/.297 hitter. While he was never regarded as a top prospect, Refsnyder excited Yankee fans with a promising debut effort back in 2015, but he’s never replicated that small-sample success. Refsnyder does carry a career .296 average and .372 OBP in parts of six Triple-A seasons, and he has experience at second base, both infield corners and both outfield corners.

Both Sparkman and Farrell have recent MLB experience — Sparkman in Kansas City and Farrell in Texas. Sparkman, 28, has a 5.99 ERA in 180 1/3 big league innings but a strong track record in both Double-A and Triple-A, giving the Twins some upper-level depth. Farrell, the son of former big league skipper John Farrell, has a 5.00 ERA in 63 MLB frames but, like Sparkman, has a stronger track record in the upper minors.

Twins Sign Tzu-Wei Lin To Minor League Deal

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The Twins have signed utilityman Tzu-Wei Lin to a minors contract, according to MLB.com’s transactions page.  Lin chose to become a free agent after the Red Sox outrighted him off their 40-man roster in October.

Originally signed as an international free agent out of Taiwan in 2012, Lin spent the last nine years in Boston’s organization, and he saw big league action in each of the last four seasons.  The first two of those seasons saw Lin hit a respectable .256/.348/.380 over 139 plate appearances, but he has posted only a .416 OPS over 79 PA since the start of the 2019 season.  It adds up to a career slash line of .223/.298/.316 over 218 PA and 101 games.

Lin offers the ability to play virtually all over the field, as he has appeared in at least one game at every position except first base.  That range around the diamond includes an inning at catcher back on August 13 of this year during a 17-8 loss to the Rays, and an inning of mop-up time on the mound in a 13-1 loss to the Orioles on September 24.

The bulk of Lin’s MLB playing time has come as a shortstop and second baseman, so he provides Minnesota with some extra depth behind Jorge Polanco, who underwent ankle surgery in October.  Lin (who turns 27 in February) will help fill the utilityman void left behind by free agents Marwin Gonzalez and Ehire Adrianza.  There has been some speculation that the Twins might look for a new regular shortstop and move Polanco into a super-utility role himself, though Lin certainly seems like more of a depth option than someone ticketed for even a platoon role.

Red Sox Select Contract Of Trevor Kelley

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The Red Sox announced today that they will select the contract of righty Trevor Kelley in advance of tomorrow’s contest, as Alex Speier of the Boston Globe first reported. An active roster spot was opened by optioning fellow right-hander Mike Shawaryn.

The 25-year-old Kelley was a 36th-round pick in 2015 and was left unprotected from the Rule 5 draft last winter. He has generally succeeded in the minors with low home run and hefty infield fly rates. The soft-tossing sidearmer has been devastating against lefty hitters at Triple-A this year, holding them to a collective .077/.172/.115 slash. Kelley has allowed just four earned in 37 2/3 innings this year for Pawtucket, with 34 strikeouts and 12 walks.

There are a few other roster maneuvers out of Boston as well. Infielder Tzu-Wei Lin was activated from the IL and optioned. Corner utilityman Steve Pearce will remain on the shelf; his lower back issue evidently isn’t progressing as hoped, as his rehab assignment was cut off. Finally, Sam Travis is going back to Triple-A after 26th-man service in London.

Red Sox Activate Eduardo Nunez, Tzu-Wei Lin Placed On Injured List

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The Boston Red Sox activated infielder Eduardo Nunez from the 10-day IL today, per an official team release. Infielder Tzu-Wei Lin heads to the injured list in the corresponding move.

Nunez went down on April 18th with a mid-back strain after a rough start to the year. The 31-year-old was hitting only .159/.178/.182 at the time of the injury. He was primarily utilized at second base to start the year, but top prospect Michael Chavis has staked a claim to the keystone in the interim. With Nunez, Dustin Pedroia and Brock Holt all on the injured list, Chavis, 23, took full advantage by hitting .310/.442/.619 with four home runs and ten RBIs. Nunez will have to fight to take back playing time coming off a disappointing .265/.289/.388 in 2018, his first full season in Boston. Nunez makes $5MM this season, and he will be a free agent at the end of the year, so it’s not inconceivable to think the Red Sox could cut bait if Nunez doesn’t start producing – though injuries to other Boston infielders and his pedigree as a useful .277/.312/.406 career hitter likely grants Nunez a fairly long leash.

Lin, 25, becomes the latest Boston infielder to occupy the injured list in 2019. He sprained his knee in Chicago on Friday and now heads back to Boston to undergo testing. Lin is primarily a middle infielder, though he has played all over the diamond during his Boston tenure. He was 4-20 so far this season as one of the many Boston infielders to sample second base.

In a related depth move, former Phillie prospect Cody Asche joins Triple-A Pawtucket after having his contract purchased from the Sugar Land Skeeters of the Independent League, per the Skeeters. Asche made good use of his time in Sugar Land, hitting .250/.375/.400 in six games with the Skeeters since signing in mid-April. Last appearing in the majors in 2017 for the White Sox, Asche, 28, spent time with both New York organizations in 2018.

Red Sox Place Eduardo Nunez On IL, Promote Michael Chavis, Designate Erasmo Ramirez

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The Red Sox announced a series of roster moves Friday morning, revealing that they’ve placed Eduardo Nunez on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to April 18) due to a mid-back strain). Additionally, Boston has designated righty Erasmo Ramirez for assignment and recalled infielders Tzu-Wei Lin and Michael Chavis from Triple-A Pawtucket. It’ll be the MLB debut for Chavis, a former first-round pick who is currently ranked as the game’s No. 75 overall prospect by MLBPipeline.com.

Nunez will join fellow second basemen Dustin Pedroia and Brock Holt on the injured list. There’s no word yet on long he’s expected to be sidelined. The loss of that trio facilitated the promotion of Chavis for his first look in the big leagues as well as the return of the versatile Lin, who has been up and down with the Sox dating back to the 2017 season. While Chavis has been primarily a third baseman in his minor league career, he’s played 47 innings at second base in 2019 and has experience at shortstop in the past, as well. He seems likely to step up at second base for the time being with Boston’s other options on the mend.

Selected with the 26th overall pick in the 2014 draft, Chavis posted modest numbers in his first two and a half professional seasons before breaking out with a .282/.347/.563 batting line between Class-A Advanced and Double-A in 2017. He followed that up with a similarly impressive .298/.381/.538 slash across three levels in 2018 (topping out in Triple-A but spending the bulk of his time in Double-A), though it should be pointed out that Chavis’ 2018 campaign was shortened by an 80-game PED suspension.

This season, he was off to a .250/.354/.600 start in Pawtucket. Chavis is a bat-first prospect, drawing the most praise for plus raw power and a solid hit tool. Strikeouts are part of his game but haven’t been a huge problem for him, and he’s shown improved plate discipline in recent years as well.

Ramirez’s stint with the Sox will go down as a brief and forgettable one. The veteran right-hander made only one appearance with the Boston organization, allowing four runs on four hits (including a pair of homers) and a walk with one strikeout in three inning of relief. The Red Sox will have a week to trade him, release him or pass him through outright waivers; Ramirez would be able to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency anyhow, so this move seems quite likely to end his tenure with the Red Sox organization.

Though he had a poor year with the Mariners in 2018, Ramirez isn’t far removed from a three-year stretch (2015-17) in which he logged a combined 3.97 ERA with 7.0 K/9, 2.3 BB/9 and 1.2 HR/9 in 385 1/3 innings between Tampa Bay and Seattle. He has extensive big league experience as both a starter and reliever, and a club looking at adding some depth in either area could take a look at the righty, who won’t turn 29 until early next month. The Braves are known to be on the lookout for potential bullpen arms, for instance, while the Rangers haven’t been secretive about their desire to add rotation depth.

Red Sox Place Dustin Pedroia On Injured List

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7:34pm: The move is no official. Reliever Marcus Walden was brought up to take the roster spot for the time being.

6:52pm: Pedroia will indeed hit the IL, per WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford (Twitter link).

6:33pm: Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia has yet another injury to his troubled left knee, though it seems that he has avoided a significant new problem. Regardless of the outlook, it’s the latest indication that the lauded veteran will likely never get back to being a durable, everyday player.

Pedroia “felt a pop” in the joint, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said in an appearance on the Dale & Keefe Show on WEEI (audio link). That characterization set off some initial alarm bells.

As it turns out, the initial medical review was fairly promising, according to Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe. Testing indicated that the 35-year-old “did not sustain a serious injury,” though the precise diagnosis remains unclear.

It’s still not known whether Pedroia will require a return trip to the injured list, though Abraham says that appears likely. He had just been activated after missing virtually all of the 2018 season. Pedroia recorded two singles and a walk in his first 21 plate appearances.

No matter how this particular situation plays out, it’s not likely to be the final time the Red Sox have to deal with uncertainty regarding Pedroia this season. As Dombrowski put it, given “the number of things that he’s had going on with that knee, as we know, the knee is never going to be one hundred percent.”

If the club ends up having to dip into the farm system to find a replacement, it seems likely to call upon Tzu-Wei Lin. Skipper Alex Cora cast doubt upon the idea of calling up slugging prospect Michael Chavis, as Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com tweets, though the third bagger is now being introduced to the second base position to open that possibility.

Red Sox Add Marcus Walden, Tzu-Wei Lin To Roster

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10:30am: The Red Sox have officially announced the roster changes. Holt hits the 10-day IL with a scratched cornea in his right eye, while Johnson is placed on the 10-day IL with left elbow inflammation.

9:50am: The Boston Red Sox have called up right-handed reliever Marcus Walden, a source tells Evan Drellich of the MLB Network and WEEI in Boston (via Twitter).

Walden, 30, made eight relief appearances for the Red Sox last season, giving up six earned runs in 14 2/3 innings (3.86 ERA). He joined the Red Sox as a minor league free agent prior to the 2017 season after stints with the Blue Jays, Reds, Twins and A’s organizations. Though most of his time in the minors has been as a starter, the Joe-Kelly-lookalike pitched primarily out of the bullpen for Pawtucket last year after missing most of June and July due to injury.

He’ll join a Red Sox bullpen that is second in volume usage thus far in 2019 with 33 2/3 innings of work. The unit is under the microscope this season after management chose not to resign back-end stalwarts Joe Kelly and Craig Kimbrel, the latter of whom, of course, remains available on the open market. The 8-man unit has held form thus far, striking out 10.69 batters per nine innings while stranding 77.4% of inherited baserunners.

Walden can help as a long man to bolster a rotation that has, meanwhile, absolutely cratered (to put it nicely). The unit as a whole is 0-7 in nine starts with a 9.60 ERA and -1.5 fWAR in a little over a week.  Their 5.76 xFIP paints a slightly less face-melting picture, though even that number ranks dead last among starting units this season.

Infielder Tzu-Wei Lin is also being added to the 25-man roster, per Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (via Twitter). Lin started at least one game at shortstop, second base, third base and centerfield for the Red Sox last season. Brock Holt and Brian Johnson will land on the injured list as the corresponding roster moves, per Speier (via Twitter).

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