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Outrighted: Vidal Nuno, Javy Guerra

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Two relievers have cleared outright waivers, today, according to announcements from their respective organizations:

  • Orioles lefty Vidal Nuno has been assigned to Triple-A after clearing waivers. The 30-year-old struggled badly in a dozen appearances earlier this year with the O’s, but hadn’t been in the majors since a mid-June stint. Nuno, who was acquired as camp opened this spring, has had more success this year at the highest level of the minors. Over 22 1/3 innings at Norfolk, he owns a 2.82 ERA with 10.5 K/9 and 1.6 BB/9.
  • The Marlins have sent righty Javy Guerra back to Triple-A New Orleans. He was designated for assignment yesterday and cleared waivers since. Guerra, 31, has posted three MLB seasons with at least forty innings of sub-3.00 ERA ball. But the last of those came in 2014 and he has largely struggled in the upper minors ever since. Thus far in 2017, Guerra has scuffled through four MLB appearances and carries a 4.99 ERA with 7.6 K/9 against 3.7 BB/9 in his 48 2/3 innings at Triple-A.

West Notes: Angels, Dodgers, Mariners, Diamondbacks

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Angels right-hander Ricky Nolasco hasn’t eclipsed the 200-inning plateau since 2011, but he’s motivated to log at least 202 1/3 frames this year, writes Pedro Moura of the Los Angeles Times. That would give Nolasco 400 innings from 2016-17, meaning his $13MM club option for 2018 would vest; otherwise he could end up with a $1MM buyout next offseason. “It’s a big deal to me,” Nolasco told Moura. “I know what’s at stake — something that, obviously, I want to get to, no matter what happens. When I first signed that contract with the Twins, I thought, ‘Well, as long as I stay healthy, this is a five-year deal.’ It’s kind of been on my mind since day one.” Nolasco came close to 200 innings last year, when he combined for 197 2/3 with the Twins and Angels, and Halos general manager Billy Eppler is rooting for him to surpass the mark this season. “I hope Ricky takes the ball every fifth day and does his thing and goes deep in games and wins a lot of ballgames,” said Eppler. Manager Mike Scioscia, meanwhile, stated that he doesn’t “even want to hear about” Nolasco’s contract, adding that “he’s gonna pitch, and hopefully pitch well.”

More from the West Coast:

  • Another Angels starter, left-hander Andrew Heaney, is recovering well from his Tommy John procedure last July and holding out hope for a return this season, per Moura. Scioscia isn’t optimistic, however. “From the information I have available right now, there is nothing that would make him available to pitch this year,” he said. “I just don’t see it happening.” Heaney took the mound only once last season, in a six-inning start on April 5, and attempted stem-cell therapy treatment on his elbow before opting for surgery. That worked for teammate Garrett Richards, but not Heaney.
  • Before the Dodgers traded southpaw Vidal Nuno to the Orioles on Sunday, they offered him back to the Mariners, who declined thanks to a lack of roster space, reports Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune. Nuno spent most of the past two seasons in Seattle, which sent him to Los Angeles for catcher Carlos Ruiz in November.
  • The Diamondbacks are “looking into building the industry’s most intelligent catchers,” including focusing on pitch framing, catching coach Robby Hammock told Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. “The catching staff tries to throw out attempted base-stealers 80-120 times a year as opposed to receiving 20,000 to 25,000 pitches a year,” Hammock said. “What do you want to emphasize?” Hammock’s views explain the Diamondbacks’ offseason decision to jettison Welington Castillo, a poor framer, in favor of the defensively adept Jeff Mathis. Fellow free agent addition Chris Iannetta, on the other hand, hasn’t fared too well as a framer (via Baseball Prospectus), though the D-backs are optimistic they can help fix his issues. “It’s a skill,” analytics head Mike Fitzgerald observed. “So if it’s a skill, you can improve at it or decline at it. There’s a decent amount of empirical evidence that guys can improve on this.”

Orioles Acquire Vidal Nuno

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5:03PM: The trade is official, as per a Dodgers press release.

4:23PM: The Orioles are close to acquiring left-hander Vidal Nuno from the Dodgers in exchange for minor league right-hander Ryan Moseley, reports Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun.

Vidal Nuno

If Baltimore does acquire Nuno, it would be the second trade involving the 29-year-old in the past three-plus months. The Dodgers previously sent catcher Carlos Ruiz to the Mariners in November for Nuno, who has three years of club control remaining and will make a paltry $1.125MM in 2017. The swingman would provide the Orioles someone with extensive experience as both a starter and reliever – something they lost when Vance Worley departed in free agency – and perhaps push out-of-options southpaw T.J. McFarland off their roster.

In stints with the Yankees, Diamondbacks and M’s, the soft-tossing Nuno has combined for 126 appearances (42 starts) of 4.02 ERA pitching with 7.38 K/9 against 2.32 BB/9. He has been particularly tough on left-handed hitters, having held them to a .217/.285/.356 line, while righties have slashed .270/.320/.479. Nuno’s currently coming off a two-year stretch in which he recorded a 3.66 ERA, 8.05 K/9 and 2.01 BB/9 over 147 2/3 innings, though he generated ground balls at just a 39.7 percent clip.

The Orioles will have to create 40-man roster space for Nuno, Encina notes, while Ken Gurnick of MLB.com tweets that dealing the pitcher will enable the Dodgers to open up a spot for newly signed outfielder Franklin Gutierrez. They’ll also pick up the 22-year-old Moseley, whom the Orioles selected in the eighth round of last June’s draft. Moseley disappointed in 2016 at Texas Tech, per Baseball America (subscription required/recommended), which lists a “power-reliever future” as the best-case scenario for the 6-foot-1, 190-pounder. Moseley debuted professionally in short-season ball last year and registered a 3.20 ERA, 8.24 K/9 and 4.12 BB/9 in 19 2/3 innings.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Dodgers Avoid Arbitration With Vidal Nuno

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The Dodgers have avoided arbitration with lefty Vidal Nuno, according to Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). He’ll earn $1.125MM in the deal.

Nuno, 29, had been projected by MLBTR and contributor Matt Swartz to earn $1.1MM in his first season of arbitration eligibility. He landed in Los Angeles earlier in the offseason in the swap that sent catcher Carlos Ruiz to Seattle.

L.A. will likely utilize Nuno from the pen, but he could also spend time in the rotation if a need arises. He has logged 38 total major-league starts, though he spent the vast bulk of the 2016 season in a relief capacity. Nuno provided Seattle with 58 2/3 innings of 3.53 ERA pitching with 7.8 K/9 and 1.7 BB/9.

Dodgers, Mariners Swap Carlos Ruiz, Vidal Nuno

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NOV. 8: MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reports that Ruiz’s contract was altered a bit as part of the deal (Twitter link). Ruiz had $500K worth of incentives added to the package, so he’ll now receive $100K for reaching 85, 90, 95, 100 and 105 starts in 2017. That meshes with a recent tweet from ESPN’s Jayson Stark in which Stark indicated that the Mariners anticipate Ruiz playing more regularly than a traditional backup.

NOV. 7: The clubs have announced the swap of Ruiz for Nuno, making it official.

NOV. 6, 10:48pm: The Dodgers are likely to receive left-hander Vidal Nuno, per Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). The 29-year-old threw 58 2/3 innings in 55 appearances (one start) with the Mariners in 2016 and logged a 3.53 ERA, 7.82 K/9 and 1.69 BB/9. Nuno previously racked up a combined 38 starts in 66 appearances with the Yankees, Diamondbacks and Mariners from 2014-15. He’s now eligible for arbitraion for the first time, and MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects a $1.1MM salary for 2017.

8:19pm: The Mariners will acquire catcher Carlos Ruiz from the Dodgers, according to FanRag’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link). In return, the Dodgers will receive a pitcher from the Mariners’ 40-man roster, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link).

"<strong[Related: Updated Mariners Depth Chart]

Ruiz, who agreed to waive his no-trade clause, will make $4.5MM next season under a club option that the Mariners will exercise. He’s now set to join his third team since August, when the Phillies shipped him to the Dodgers for fellow catcher A.J. Ellis. Ruiz had been with the Phillies organization since signing as an amateur free agent in 1998.

Ruiz was among the majors’ best all-around catchers at times during his Phillies tenure, which began in 2006. While those days are behind Ruiz, he’ll still provide solid insurance behind Mike Zunino in Seattle. Ruiz is coming off a season in which he hit a respectable .264/.365/.348 in 233 plate appearances and threw out a National League-best 42 percent of base stealers. Baseball Prospectus awarded positive throwing and blocking grades to Ruiz in 2016, though neither BP nor StatCorner thought much of his pitch-framing work. Nevertheless, he’s likely an upgrade over previous No. 2 catcher Chris Iannetta, whom the Mariners parted with Thursday, and is clearly preferable to in-house option Jesus Sucre.

For the Dodgers, moving on from Ruiz will open the door for Austin Barnes to serve as Yasmani Grandal’s primary backup. Barnes, 26, has just 74 major league PAs to his name, but he has raked as a minor league hitter in both the Marlins and Dodgers organizations. Los Angeles acquired Barnes in December 2014 as part of a seven-player trade that saw second baseman Dee Gordon head to Miami.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

AL West Notes: Scheppers, Nuno, Guerrero

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Rangers reliever Tanner Scheppers will have surgery on his left knee to repair torn articular cartilage, and he will be unavailable for the first half of the season, MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan writes. Scheppers suffered a bone bruise in his left knee last year, but the Rangers don’t think his current injury is related. “He woke up a few days ago and the knee was a little puffy,” says GM Jon Daniels. “He can’t think of a moment where he tweaked it.” Scheppers, 29, pitched 38 1/3 innings last season, posting a 5.63 ERA with 7.5 K/9 and 5.4 BB/9. Here’s more from the AL West.

  • Mariners manager Scott Servais says lefty Vidal Nuno will pitch only in relief this Spring, MLB.com’s Greg Johns tweets. (Servais also notes that the same is true of Danny Hultzen, although that had previously been reported.) Nuno arrived from Arizona in the Mark Trumbo / Welington Castillo deal last June and posted a 4.10 ERA, 7.5 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9 in four months in Seattle. The 28-year-old was far more successful (1.91 ERA) in 37 2/3 innings in relief than he was in 51 1/3 innings as a starter (5.08 ERA), and he had a large platoon split, so he might ultimately prove most useful to the Mariners coming out of the bullpen.
  • Longtime Expos and Angels star Vladimir Guerrero will return to the Halos this spring as a guest instructor, Guerrero himself tweets. The 41-year-old Guerrero has been out of affiliated baseball since playing briefly in the Blue Jays’ minor league system in 2012. He signed, but never played, with the independent Long Island Ducks in 2013 before officially retiring with the Angels in 2014. He has, however, remained on the periphery of the game, with his son Vladimir Jr. now a top Jays prospect.

Mariners Acquire Mark Trumbo In Six-Player Deal

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With an offense that is again struggling to score runs in Seattle and a logjam of corner outfield types in Arizona, the Diamondbacks and Mariners have agreed to a rare, significant early-June trade that will send Mark Trumbo from Arizona to Seattle, the teams announced. Left-hander Vidal Nuno is also heading to the Mariners, who will send catcher Welington Castillo, right-hander Dominic Leone and prospects Gabby Guerrero and Jack Reinheimer to the D-Backs.

Mark Trumbo

From the Mariners’ perspective, Trumbo will add significant power to a lineup that has struggled to score runs, as they rank 28th in the Majors with 191 runs. However, Seattle has thrived as a collective unit against left-handed pitching, which is where Trumbo does most of his damage. The 29-year-old is a lifetime .263/.311/.528 hitter against southpaws but owns a more pedestrian .242/.293/.444 line against same-handed pitching. Despite questionable OBP skills and his so-so numbers against right-handed pitching, Trumbo does figure to make the Mariners’ offense more formidable, though it may come at the cost of some defensive value. The acquisition of Trumbo also forces the team to either displace Logan Morrison at first base or utilize one of Trumbo or Nelson Cruz in the corner outfield, where both are regarded as defensive liabilities. Trumbo, who is earning $6.9MM in 2015 and is under team control through 2016 via the arbitration process.

Looking at the trade from Arizona’s perspective, it’s not difficult to see why the team felt the need to move Trumbo. The signing of Yasmany Tomas this offseason gave them a pair of slow-footed corner outfielders whose most appealing asset was right-handed pop. The D-Backs have been playing Tomas at third base while highly regarded prospect Jake Lamb is on the disabled list, but Lamb is nearing a return, and Tomas’ defensive work in the infield has not been particularly strong. With this move, Tomas can shift to right field in Trumbo’s place, joining A.J. Pollock and a combination of Ender Inciarte and David Peralta in the outfield. The move also saves the D-Backs some significant money; Trumbo is owed $4.68MM for the remainder of the 2015 season, compared to Castillo’s $1.43MM, making for a total savings of about $3.25MM.

Nuno has been told that he will be joining the Mariners’ rotation, the lefty himself told reporters, including MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert (Twitter link). The 27-year-old has struggled throughout his brief MLB career as a starter, but he’s pitched quite well in a long relief capacity for Arizona this season, posting a 1.88 ERA with a 19-to-5 K/BB ratio in 14 1/3 innings. Of course, that small sample consists of just three appearances, and Nuno’s larger body of work is relatively suspect. He’s tallied 196 innings at the Major League level between the Yankees and Diamondbacks, posting a 4.13 ERA with 7.2 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 and a 38.1 percent ground-ball rate.

As a fly-ball pitcher, his first stint in an expansive, pitcher-friendly environment figures to benefit Nuno, but his peripheral profile doesn’t exactly indicate that he’s been the recipient of much poor luck. Metrics such as FIP (4.36), xFIP (4.15) and SIERA (3.97) all feel that Nuno’s ERA are more or less reflective of his talent level. The Mariners will hope that he can produce improved results in a more favorable setting, however, and if not, he seems like he could at least be a useful bullpen piece. Nuno has stifled opposing lefties to this point in his career, yielding just .191/.271/.317 batting line in 190 plate appearances. The Mariners will be able to control him through the 2019 season.

Castillo is the most established player headed back to Arizona in the trade, and he will pair with Jarrod Saltalamacchia behind the dish to form the D-Backs’ new catching tandem. That’s a far more established duo than Tuffy Gosewisch and Jordan Pacheco, who have handled the bulk of Arizona’s catching duties this season. Arizona GM Dave Stewart stated on multiple occasions this offseason that he had no intent of adding a catcher, and he held to his word through Opening Day, but he’s since seen Gosewisch go down for the year due to a torn ACL, while a back injury has ended veteran Gerald Laird’s season. Rule 5 pickup Oscar Hernandez is on the shelf as well, creating an even larger dearth of catching options for the Diamondbacks.

Arizona values prospect Peter O’Brien’s bat quite a bit, but scouts have long questioned whether or not he can handle catching from a defensive standpoint. Late in Spring Training, those questions became even more pronounced when O’Brien developed an issue throwing the ball back to the mound. He’s seen more time in the corner outfield this season at Triple-A than he has behind the plate.

Therefore, Castillo and Saltalamacchia give the Diamondbacks a more experienced tandem without forcing them to try O’Brien at catcher before he is ready (if he ever is). Castillo is a career .250/.316/.392 hitter that posted a combined 105 OPS+ from 2012-13 before taking a step back in 2014. All told, his bat has been about five percent below the league average over the course of his career, which is solid offensive output from a catcher. Castillo has also caught an above-average 30 percent of attempted base stealers in his career, though like Saltalamacchia, he does not grade out well in terms of pitch-framing metrics. Castillo is under team control through the 2017 season.

In Leone, the Diamondbacks will acquire a 23-year-old reliever who was dominant in his 2014 rookie campaign but has struggled to repeat that success. Leone emerged from out of nowhere in 2014 to post a 2.17 ERA with 9.5 K/9, 3.4 BB/9 and a 54.7 percent ground-ball rate in 66 1/3 innings for the Mariners. Both FIP and xFIP pegged him at 3.07, while SIERA was more bullish at 2.81. Entering the 2015 season, Leone looked like a potential long-term bullpen cog. However, he’s seen his control erode dramatically, issuing nine walks in 11 1/3 innings against just seven strikeouts. The 94.6 mph he averaged on his heater in 2014 has dropped to 93.3 mph, leading to further cause for concern. His ERA to this point is a sky-high 6.35, while ERA estimators peg him for a mark in the 5.40 to 5.80 range. Put simply, Leone is a reclamation project for the Diamondbacks, but if he can return to anything close to his 2014 output, he’d be one of the most effective pieces in Arizona’s relief corps, if not the most effective piece.

Guerrero, 21, is the best prospect in the deal, despite a rough year at Double-A so far (.215/.262/.305). The nephew of famed slugger Vladimir Guerrero, Gabby has ranked among the Mariners’ Top 15 prospects in each of the past three offseasons, topping out at seventh this past winter. In their most recent scouting report, BA noted that Guerrero has plus-plus raw power, a plus-plus arm in right field (sound familiar?) and plus range as well, but he’s overly aggressive at the plate and swings too hard too often. Guerrero has baseball in his genes and is a high-risk, high-reward type of prospect; BA and other outlets such as MLB.com (where he ranks fifth among Mariners prospects) and Fangraphs (eighth) all feel that he could ultimately be an everyday right fielder, but the likelihood isn’t great without adjustments to his approach.

The 22-year-old Reinheimer reached Double-A for the first time this season and has slashed .277/.323/.351 thus far. Ranked as Seattle’s No. 17 prospect by BA, he also ranks 19th per Fangraphs and 14th per MLB.com. Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis at MLB.com call Reinheimer a singles hitter at the moment, noting that he has above-average speed and the range/arm to handle shortstop defensively. Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs agrees for the most part and comps him to Mariners shortstop Chris Taylor, noting that there’s very little power and a utility player might be the ultimate outcome.

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported that Trumbo and Nuno had been traded to Seattle in exchange for Castillo, Leone and two prospects (Twitter links). 

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

DBacks, Rangers Discussed Nuno Trade, No Deal Likely

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The Diamondbacks scratched pitcher Vidal Nuno earlier today due to active trade talks, tweets Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reported earlier today (via Twitter) that talks occurred with the Rangers but that no deal appeared likely. Finally, Zach Buchanan of AZ Central Sports confirmed on Twitter that “discussions went nowhere.”

Nuno, acquired last season for Brandon McCarthy, pitched well in 14 starts for the DBacks. He posted a 3.76 ERA with 7.42 K/9 and 2.15 BB/9. The lefty wasn’t as sharp with the Yankees prior to the trade. He has a career 4.31 ERA in 181 innings. He has since been optioned to Triple-A with news that prospect Andrew Chafin has made the major league bullpen.

Yankees Acquire Brandon McCarthy

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10:44am: The Diamondbacks will eat $2.05MM of the $4.1MM owed to McCarthy for the rest of the year, tweets Buster Olney of ESPN.com.  Meanwhile, the Yankees will pay the $1MM assignment bonus to McCarthy.

10:21am: The D’Backs will be eating money in the deal, tweets ESPN’s Buster Olney.  McCarthy is owed the prorated portion of his $9MM contract, plus the $1MM assignment bonus he is set to earn after being traded.

The prorated portion of McCarthy’s deal comes out to roughly $4.1MM, not counting the assignment bonus.

10:15am: The Yankees are in fact trading Vidal Nuno to Arizona for McCarthy, tweets Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News.

Nuno, 26, owns a 5.42 ERA with 6.9 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 through 14 starts and three relief appearances this season.  While McCarthy is on an expiring contract, Nuno won’t be eligible for free agency until after the 2019 season.

The left-hander was originally in the Indians’ system before being released in March 2011.  The Yankees picked Nuno up a couple of months later and after getting 17 big league starts out of him across the last two seasons, they have parlayed him into the 6’7″ McCarthy.

10:10am: The Yankees have acquired Brandon McCarthy from the D’Backs, according to Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish (on Twitter).  The two sides were discussing a deal involving Vidal Nuno last night, sources tell Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter), but it’s unclear if Nuno is in fact in the trade. MLB: Arizona Diamondbacks at Pittsburgh Pirates

McCarthy, 30, has a 5.01 ERA with 7.6 K/9 – a career best if it holds – and 1.6 BB/9 through 18 starts this season.  While the 5+ ERA isn’t particularly attractive, advanced metrics such as McCarthy’s 2.89 xFIP indicate that he has been much better than that would indicate.

ESPN’s Buster Olney reported late last month that McCarthy would earn a $1MM assignment bonus if he was traded.  Olney added that the D’Backs would likely have to pick up the tab on that sum.

The Diamondbacks made a smaller move yesterday when they shipped Joe Thatcher and Tony Campana to the Angels for outfielder Zach Borenstein and right-hander Joey Krehbiel.  Between that deal and today’s trade of McCarthy, it’s clear that the 36-53 Diamondbacks are going to be committed to selling this month.

Despite their underwhelming performances so far this season, veterans Cody Ross and Aaron Hill could also be on the move.  Eric Chavez, Bronson Arroyo, and Mark Trumbo could also be of interest to teams if they show that they’re healthy.  And while Thatcher is already gone, fellow lefty Oliver Perez should have some value.  Thatcher is merely a rental for the Angels but Perez is controlled through the 2015 season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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