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Minor MLB Transactions: 8/9/21

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The latest minor moves from around the league:

  • The Royals announced that left-hander Daniel Tillo has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to Double-A Northwest Arkansas. Kansas City had a pair of vacancies on the 40-man roster, so no additional move was required. Tillo, named the #51 prospect in the Royals system entering the year by Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs, was selected to the 40-man roster in advance of last winter’s Rule 5 draft. The 24-year-old has spent the entire year recovering from a 2020 Tommy John surgery and has thus far topped out at Double-A.
  • The Giants signed right-hander Logan Ondrusek to a minor league contract over the weekend. He’s been assigned to Triple-A Sacramento, where he made his first appearance on Saturday. Ondrusek made 288 MLB relief appearances between 2010 and 2016, the bulk of that time coming with the Reds. The 36-year-old hasn’t appeared in the majors in five years, but he’s worked his way back to affiliated ball after beginning the year well with the Leones de Yucatán of the Mexican League. Now working as a starting pitcher, Ondrusek pitched to a 2.38 ERA with an incredible 50:3 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 45 1/3 innings in Mexico this season.
  • Dodgers right-hander Yefry Ramírez has cleared outright waivers, according to the MLB.com transactions tracker. Ramírez, who was designated for assignment last week, had the right to reject an outright assignment because he’d been outrighted in the past. He has apparently chosen to accept an assignment to Triple-A Oklahoma City, though, as he’s listed on OKC’s active roster. The 27-year-old made one appearance with L.A. but has otherwise spent the year with Oklahoma City, working to a 5.49 ERA across 62 1/3 innings.

Dodgers Designate Yefry Ramirez For Assignment

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The Dodgers announced they’ve designated right-hander Yefry Ramírez for assignment. The move clears space on the 40-man roster for Cole Hamels, who has officially signed a major league contract.

Ramírez was just selected to the roster earlier this week, and he loses his spot after a single big league appearance. He’s otherwise spent the entire season with Triple-A Oklahoma City, where’s made 15 appearances (12 starts). Ramírez pitched to a 5.49 ERA in that hitter-friendly league, striking out a solid 25% of batters faced but issuing walks at an alarming 11.1% clip.

The 27-year-old has pitched in parts of three big league seasons, seeing action with the Orioles and Pirates in addition to his briefest of stints in L.A. Ramírez will now be made available to other clubs via waivers, although any claiming team would have to keep the out-of-options hurler on the big league roster or designate him for assignment themselves. Having previously been passed through outright waivers in his career, Ramírez would have the right to reject a minor league assignment in favor of free agency if he clears.

Dodgers Activate Mookie Betts From 10-Day IL

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The Dodgers announced a series of roster moves, most notably the activation of star outfielder Mookie Betts from the 10-day injured list.  Right-hander Yefry Ramirez also had his contract selected, with James Sherfy moved to the 60-day IL to open up a 40-man roster space.  For the active roster, utilityman Zach McKinstry and right-hander Mitch White were optioned to Triple-A to open up two spots for Betts and Ramirez.

Betts returns after only a minimum 10-day stint on the IL, though he hasn’t appeared in a game since July 19 due to lingering inflammation in his right hip.  The Dodgers held Betts out for several games to see if he could eventually return without the need of an IL visit, but it was ultimately decided to officially sideline Betts and give him time to recover.

According to manager Dave Roberts, Betts’ hip problem is one of a few minor injuries that have bothered the former AL MVP for most of the season.  Betts’ numbers don’t have the look of a player limited by nagging injuries, as he has hit .270/.374/.502 with 14 home runs over 374 PA this season.

Interestingly, Betts will start at second base in today’s lineup, as part of the team’s plan to keep Betts fresh and healthy by reducing his time in the outfield.  It seems likely that Betts will only play at the keystone every once in a while, though he might get more looks at the position until Trea Turner and Gavin Lux are both back from the injured list.  Betts was originally drafted as a second baseman by the Red Sox, but was pretty quickly moved to the outfield, and has now won five consecutive Gold Gloves for his excellent defense on the grass.

Ramirez came to Los Angeles on a minor league contract in March, and the righty is looking to make his first MLB appearance since September 2019.  Ramirez tossed 89 2/3 innings with the Orioles and Pirates in 2018-19, with a 6.32 ERA over his brief big league career.  The 27-year-old signed a minors deal with the Mets in 2020 but didn’t get into any games with New York last year.

Mets Release Yefry Ramirez, Trade Stephen Villines To Rangers

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The Mets announced a pair of transactions, including the news that right-hander Yefry Ramirez has been released.  New York also completed the August 5 trade with the Rangers that brought Ariel Jurado to Citi Field, as right-hander Steve Villines was sent to Texas as the player to be named later.

Ramirez signed a minor league deal with the Mets over the offseason and was part of the team’s 60-man player pool, though he never received a call-up from the alternate training site.  The 26-year-old righty has a 6.32 ERA, 1.71 K/BB rate, and 8.9 K/9 over 89 2/3 career innings in the big leagues, all with Orioles and Pirates from 2018-19.  Originally an international signing for the Diamondbacks in 2011, the 26-year-old Ramirez has posted some solid numbers over 605 minor league innings (3.57 ERA, 2.96 K/BB, 9.1 K/9), starting 103 of his 137 games.

Villines was a 10th-round pick for the Mets in the 2017 draft, and has worked exclusively as a reliever over 155 career innings in New York’s farm system.  He wasn’t a top-30 prospect for the Mets nor a member of their 60-man player pool, though the 25-year-old’s unconventional sidearm-esque delivery has some outstanding minor league numbers — a 2.67 ERA, 5.31 K/BB rate, and an 11.1 K/9 over 155 innings.  That dominance didn’t translate to 16 Triple-A innings last season, as Villines posted a 6.75 ERA over that admittedly small sample size.

Pirates Exercise Options Over Archer, Marte; Outright Four Players

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The Pirates announced a series of roster moves today. In addition to exercising club options over Chris Archer and Starling Marte — moves that were all but a given — the club has outrighted four players. James Marvel, Alex McRae, Yefry Ramirez and Wei-Chung Wang were all dropped from the Pittsburgh 40-man roster.

The Pirates don’t have a general manager at the moment — assistant GM Kevan Graves is filling that role on an interim basis — though it was still undoubtedly easy for their front office to pick up Archer and Marte at their 2020 tabs. Archer has been surprisingly below average since the Pirates acquired him from the Rays in a July 2018 trade that’s looking like one of the most regrettable deals in Pittsburgh history. Nevertheless, as someone who’s due an affordable $9MM in 2020, it’s worth keeping Archer around and hoping for a bounce-back season or trying to shop him during the winter.

Marte, who’s owed $11.5MM next year, looks like an even more obvious trade candidate than Archer. The 31-year-old Marte’s fresh off yet another strong campaign, one in which he totaled at least 3.0 fWAR for the sixth time since his first full season since he debuted in 2013. However, Marte’s down to his last two years of team control, so if the Pirates don’t expect to push for contention during that span, putting him on the block may make sense. That’s all the more true when considering the lack of appealing center field alternatives on the free-agent market.

Of the players the Pirates outrighted, Wang worked the largest slate of innings in 2019. While he only tossed four frames for the Buccos, the 27-year-old logged another 27 innings with Oakland prior to landing in Pittsburgh. On the season overall, Wang posted a solid 3.77 ERA, though he did so with a grisly 18-to-14 K/BB ratio in those 31 innings of relief. He held lefties to a lowly .220/.298/.280 batting line through 57 plate appearances but was tagged for an .823 OPS by righties. Wang, McRae and Ramirez will all have the option to elect free agency.

Pirates Acquire Yefry Ramirez, Designate Jesus Liranzo

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The Pirates have acquired right-hander Yefry Ramirez from the Orioles for a player to be named later or cash considerations, per announcements from both teams. To make room for Ramirez on its 40-man roster, Pittsburgh designated righty Jesus Liranzo for assignment.

Ramirez lasted just under two years with the Orioles, who acquired him from the Yankees for international bonus money in July 2017. His time with Baltimore essentially ended May 22 when it designated him for assignment.

The 25-year-old Ramirez saw extensive action with the Orioles in 2018, his major league debut, but pitched to an unappealing 5.92 ERA/5.29 FIP with 8.54 K/9, 4.96 BB/9 and a 34 percent groundball rate in 65 1/3 innings. Most of Ramirez’s 17 appearances (12) came as a starter last year, but he primarily worked from the Orioles’ bullpen this season before they parted with him. Ramirez opened the campaign with one start over four appearances and allowed eight earned runs on 11 hits and nine walks (with 11 strikeouts) in 10 1/3 frames.

Ramirez hasn’t established himself in the majors, but he does carry a 3.40 ERA with 9.6 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in 90 Triple-A innings. Meanwhile, Liranzo has endured a terrible season with the Pirates’ Triple-A affiliate in Indianapolis. The 24-year-old posted a 7.54 ERA and 7.9 K/9 against 6.8 BB/9 in 22 2/3 innings prior to his designation. Liranzo happens to be an ex-Orioles farmhand, but he joined the Pirates as a waiver claim from the Dodgers in April 2018.

Orioles Acquire Keon Broxton, Claim Chandler Shepherd

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The Orioles have acquired outfielder Keon Broxton from the Mets and claimed righty Chandler Shepherd from the Cubs, per a club announcement. $500K in international signing bonus slots are headed to the Mets in the swap.

Those additions created a need for two 40-man slots. To do so, the team moved starter Alex Cobb to the 60-day IL and designated fellow righty Yefry Ramirez for assignment.

Broxton, 29, obviously drew some interest since it took a non-trivial trade return to add him. He’ll need to stay on the active roster since he’s out of options. It’ll be interesting to see whether the O’s give him an extended audition in center field. While the results just haven’t been there for Broxton at the game’s highest level, he also has not had much of a chance to get going since the 2017 campaign.

This year has been a wreck so far for Broxton, who saw action in 34 games but took only 53 plate appearances with the Mets. He struck out 22 times in that span while delivering just one extra-base hit. Broxton did still manage to swipe four bags and figures to be a strong contributor in the field and on the bases.

As for the 26-year-old Shepherd, he’s on the move again just days after being claimed by the Cubs from the Red Sox. The right-handed hurler has been hit exceptionally hard this year at Triple-A, allowing 33 earned runs on 53 hits (eleven of them long balls) in 29 2/3 innings. But he had previously been a solid performer in the upper minors. The O’s are in need of innings and may have some ideas for getting him sorted out.

In any event, the organization obviously preferred Shepherd to Ramirez, who has had his own struggles this year. In 10 1/3 MLB frames, Ramirez has issued nine walks against eleven strikeouts while coughing up eight earned runs. Though it had never been an issue in the minors, he also struggled with the free passes last year in the majors.

Darren O’Day To Undergo Season-Ending Hamstring Surgery

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TODAY: O’Day will undergo season-ending surgery on his hamstring, Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun (Twitter link) was among those to report.  The projected recovery time is six months, so O’Day should be ready to go for Spring Training.

YESTERDAY: The Orioles have placed reliever Darren O’Day on the 60-day disabled list and designated infielder Corban Joseph for assignment, per a club announcement. O’Day had previously been placed on the 10-day DL with a left hamstring injury.

Those moves cleared two needed 40-man roster spots to facilitate a pair of promotions. To create active roster space, the O’s optioned pitchers Jimmy Yacabonis and Yefry Ramirez.

Needless to say, it’s hardly promising to see O’Day heading to the 60-day DL so soon after being diagnosed with a strained hammy. Clearly, it’s not a minor injury. Indeed, a second opinion has already confirmed that initial impression, per Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com (via Twitter).

O’Day is still weighing (and perhaps leaning toward) surgery, Connolly notes. If that’s necessary, it is likely he won’t return this year. Even if the prognosis turns out to be slightly more promising, the veteran reliever no longer seems like a plausible trade candidate.

In theory, O’Day could return in very late August. His contract would certainly clear waivers, facilitating a deal. And we have seen deadline deals worked out for injured players in some prior cases (see, e.g., here). But with $9MM still to go in 2019, in addition to the remainder of this season’s $9MM salary, it’s all but impossible to imagine something coming together unless the contract is simply utilized to offset other salary being swapped.

It’s yet more unfortunate news for an Orioles organization that is saddled with multiple undesirable contracts. O’Day had pitched quite well this year when healthy, with a 3.60 ERA and impressive combination of 12.2 K/9 against 1.8 BB/9 over his twenty innings, leaving some hope that the club could at least save some money and perhaps get a bit of talent back in return.

As for the 29-year-old Joseph, today’s move wraps up his second brief turn in the majors. He had performed quite well at Double-A prior to his promotion, slashing .332/.398/.534 in 281 plate appearances.

Orioles Place Richard Bleier On DL, Select Corban Joseph, Designate D.J. Snelten

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SATURDAY: Bleier will indeed have season-ending surgery on Tuesday to repair a Grade 3 lat strain, as Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun was among those to tweet.

FRIDAY, 3:33pm: Bleier may need surgery and is likely to miss the remainder of the season, MLB.com’s Britt Ghiroli is among those to report on Twitter.

2:19pm: The Orioles have announced a host of roster moves today. Southpaw Richard Bleier is heading to the DL with what has been diagnosed as a lat strain. He’ll be replaced in the pen by southpaw Tanner Scott.

Infielder Corban Joseph has been selected and added to the active roster as well. To create the needed roster space, righty Yefry Ramirez was optioned and lefty D.J. Snelten was designated for assignment.

The news on Bleier was fully expected at this point, as Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com wrote earlier today. Bleier is said to be seeking a second opinion after already undergoing an MRI. It’s still unclear just how bleak the outlook is, but Kubatko suggests the internal belief is it’s a serious injury.

While Bleier, 31, is hardly a household name, perhaps he should be. The former Yankees southpaw is in his third big league season and currently is sporting the third sub-2.00 ERA of his career. Bleier has a 1.97 ERA in 119 innings, which is the sixth-lowest mark (min. 100 innings) in MLB history. He’s tied with Craig Kimbrel for the best ERA- (46) in MLB history (again, min. 100 innings; and a tip of the cap to ESPN’s Sam Miller for shining a light on Bleier’s curious dominance earlier this season).

Bleier has averaged just 4.1 K/9 in his career, but his 21.2 percent hard-contact rate in 2018 is outstanding. He’s allowed only two barreled balls this season (as defined by Statcast), and he leads the Majors in barrels per batted ball (1.8 percent of balls in play against him). Bleier may be an anomaly, but he’s been an important piece to the Baltimore bullpen who now looks headed for an absence of potential significance.

Orioles Designate Nestor Cortes

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The Orioles have designated lefty Nestor Cortes for assignment, per a club announcement. The team promoted righty Yefry Ramirez to take his place on the active roster.

Cortes was taken from the Yankees in the 2017 Rule 5 draft. If he clears waivers, he’ll be offered back to the New York organization for a $50K sum, which the Yankees will all but assuredly pay. Regardless, the O’s have opened an additional 40-man spot for the time being.

The 23-year-old Cortes was one of two Rule 5 picks the O’s made back in December and one of three players with Rule 5 restrictions to crack the Opening Day roster. Baltimore also selected Pedro Araujo out of the Cubs organization, and outfielder Anthony Santander still comes with Rule 5 status for the first 44 days of the 2018 season after spending the bulk of the 2017 season on the disabled list.

Cortes appeared in four games for the Orioles and was tagged for four runs on 10 hits and four walks with three strikeouts through 4 2/3 innings of relief. Last year with the Yankees, he logged an impressive 2.06 ERA in 104 total innings between Class-A Advanced, Double-A and Triple-A, while averaging a strikeout per inning and just 2.8 walks per nine frames.

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