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Minor MLB Transactions: 6/15/17

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Here are the day’s minor moves from around the league…

  • The Twins released left-hander Kevin Chapman and re-signed right-hander Drew Rucinski to a new minor league contract, per Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (Twitter link). The 29-year-old Chapman was acquired from the Braves in exchange for Danny Santana following Santana’s DFA and tossed 11 1/3 innings of 5.56 ERA ball in Triple-A prior to his release. He has a career 4.09 ERA in parts of four big league seasons — all coming with the Astros. As for Rucinski, the 28-year-old posted solid numbers in 23 1/3 Triple-A innings before being hit hard in his small sample of work in the Majors. Despite a career 5.50 ERA in Triple-A, he’s pitched 23 1/3 innings of 2.13 ERA ball with a 25-to-3 K/BB ratio as a member of Minnesota’s Triple-A affiliate in 2017.
  • The Royals picked up infielder/outfielder Zach Walters on a minor league deal, according to MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan (Twitter link). Walters, 27, was hitting well for the independent Kansas City T-Bones before returning to affiliated ball. He’s seen time with the Nats, Indians and Dodgers in the Majors and has shown power but struggled to get on base. In 181 Major League plate appearances, he’s a .176/.227/.382 hitter with 10 home runs. He’s been better in his Triple-A career, hitting .262/.309/.475 through 1711 plate appearances in parts of six seasons.
  • Former Orioles outfielder Henry Urrutia has landed with the Red Sox, as Double-A Portland broadcasting and media director Mike Antonellis tweets. Urrutia, a former Cuban star, had struggled in his brief MLB opportunities with the O’s and was released late in May after losing his 40-man spot last summer. Through over a thousand trips to the plate at Triple-A in his career, Urrutia carries a mediocre .277/.327/.374 slash.

Minor MLB Transactions: 2/6/17

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Here are the day’s minor moves from around the game…

  • The Blue Jays announced the signing of infielder Jonathan Diaz to a minor league deal earlier this week.  Diaz was originally drafted by the Jays in 2006 and this is his third separate stint in the organization.  Diaz has a .406 OPS over 65 career plate appearances in the majors, all with the Red Sox and Blue Jays during the 2013-15 seasons.  The 31-year-old spent 2016 playing for the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate.
  • The Reds have signed infielder Zach Walters to a minor league contract, reports Baseball America’s Matt Eddy. The 27-year-old switch-hitter spent the 2014-15 seasons in the Indians organization after being traded over from the Nationals in exchange for Asdrubal Cabrera, and he was with the Dodgers last season. Walters has displayed plenty of pop, with 10 homers in 181 career MLB plate appearances, but he’s also been extremely strikeout prone in the bigs. Overall, he’s a .176/.227/.382 hitter in the Majors, though his .265/.312/.482 career line in Triple-A is more palatable. Walters logged a .770 OPS in 94 games with the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate last season and played every position on the diamond besides catcher.
  • The Brewers announced today that right-hander Rob Scahill has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A. The 29-year-old had previously been designated for assignment in order to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for infielder Ehire Adrianza, who was claimed off waivers before promptly being designated for assignment himself (in favor of first baseman and fellow waiver claim Jesus Aguilar). Scahill pitched well for the Brewers late in the 2016 season, tossing 18 1/3 innings with a 2.45 ERA and a 14-to-3 K/BB ratio. Scahill’s ground-ball rate has soared in each of the past two seasons, sitting around 62 percent in that time. He’s yet to find consistent success in the Majors, though he does possess a very solid 3.03 ERA in his past 65 1/3 innings in the big leagues.
  • The Orioles announced that they’ve re-signed infielder Robert Andino to a minor league contract. Baltimore also confirmed its previously reported minors contract with Johnny Giavotella. The 32-year-old Andino will return to Baltimore for his second stint after previously spending the 2009-12 seasons with the Orioles. In 2016, Andino returned to the Majors following a two-year absence from the bigs and picked up seven singles in 24 plate appearances with the Marlins. He spent most of the season in Triple-A New Orleans, hitting .267/.319/.427. Capable of playing shortstop, second base and third base, Andino will likely provide the O’s with some infield depth in the upper minors. While Andino does receive an invite to Major League Spring Training (per Rich Dubroff of PressboxOnline, on Twitter), Ryan Flaherty is in line to be the team’s primary utility option.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/16/16

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Here are the day’s minor moves from around the league…

  • Veteran outfielder Chris Denorfia has been released from his minor league contract with the Giants, according to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter link). Denorfia, 36, signed with San Francisco back in early June and batted .269/.329/.408 in 143 plate appearances across two levels (most of the time spent in Triple-A) before his release. He’s a veteran of 10 big league seasons and is a career .272/.330/.392 hitter at the Major League level.
  • The Dodgers released infielder/outfielder Zach Walters following his DFA on Sunday, reports J.P. Hoornstra of the Los Angeles News Group (Twitter link). Walters received just five big league plate appearances with the Dodgers this season but slashed a respectable .276/.326/.444 in 366 plate appearances at the Triple-A level. Walters has plenty of pop, as evidenced by his 10 big league homers in just 181 plate appearances, but he’s also struck out in 36 percent of his trips to the plate as a Major Leaguer. Still, as a player with power and experience at shortstop, second base, third base and in the outfield, the 26-year-old switch-hitter figures to draw interest elsewhere.
  • Right-hander Jeff Ferrell, who was designated for assignment by the Tigers last week, was released by Detroit yesterday, tweets Evan Woodbery of MLive.com. The 25-year-old entered the season as Detroit’s No. 21 prospect, per Baseball America, but he hasn’t pitched since May due to injury. Last season, Ferrell notched a 2.58 ERA with 10.6 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 in 38 1/3 innings at the Double-A level.
  • Outfielder Darin Mastroianni has signed a minor league contract with the Rangers, reports Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press (via Twitter). Mastroianni, 30, had a nice season as a fourth outfielder for the Twins back in 2012 but battled an ankle injury the following season and ultimately was designated for assignment in 2014. He’s bounced around the league on a number of waiver claims minor league deals since that time, making brief MLB appearances with the Blue Jays and with the Twins (in a second stint). The fleet-footed Mastroianni is a career .271/.341/.349 with 87 steals in 108 tries across 369 games.
  • The Marlins released infielder Pedro Ciriaco, per Baseball America’s Matt Eddy. Miami acquired Ciriaco from the Rangers back on July 8 in exchange for lefty Eric Jokisch (who had been designated for assignment), but he hit just .221/.239/.250 in 68 plate appearances with Triple-A New Orleans. The versatile 30-year-old has plenty of big league experience under his belt, having compiled a .268/.294/.368 slash in 649 plate appearances across 272 Major League games from 2010-15.

Dodgers Designate Zach Walters For Assignment

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The Dodgers have announced outfielder Zach Walters’ designation for assignment. Walters joined the Dodgers in an April trade with the Indians, who acquired cash considerations in exchange for him and James Ramsey. Neither player has panned out for LA, though, with Walters entering DFA limbo and Ramsey now part of the Mariners organization.

Walters has spent the lion’s share of the season with the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma City, where he has slashed .276/.326/.444 with 10 home runs in 356 plate appearances. The 26-year-old collected a mere five PAs in Los Angeles earlier this year, which pales in comparison to the career-best 137 trips to the plate he accrued with the Indians and Nationals in 2014. That year, Walters batted .181/.241/.441 with an impressive 10 homers.

Since the Diamondbacks chose him in the ninth round of the 2010 draft, Walters has hit .176/.227/.382 in 181 major league plate appearances and .265/.312/.482 in 1,663 PAs at the Triple-A level.

Dodgers Acquire Zach Walters, James Ramsey

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The Indians have announced that they’ve traded utilityman Zach Walters and outfielder James Ramsey to the Dodgers for cash considerations. In corresponding moves, the Dodgers have announced that they’ve moved Andre Ethier (broken leg) and Josh Ravin (broken arm) to the 60-day DL.

Walters has seen bits of big-league action in the past three seasons with the Nationals and Indians, batting .182/.233/.394 while playing various infield positions and the corner outfield. He was in the midst of a strong Triple-A season upon being traded from Washington to Cleveland for Asdrubal Cabrera in 2014 and looked like he might be somewhat of an unconventional power-hitting prospect as an older player who could man several positions, but he hasn’t shown much offensively since the deal. The Indians designated him for assignment last week.

In a separate move, the Indians also designated Ramsey last week, just months after adding him to their 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft. The 26-year-old hit .243/.327/.382 while playing all three outfield positions for Triple-A Columbus last season. Ramsey is a former first-round draft pick and has the distinction of being traded for a big-leaguer (Justin Masterson, in 2014), but he’s never played in the big leagues.

Indians Designate Giovanni Soto, Zach Walters For Assignment

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The Indians have designated Zach Walters and Giovanni Soto for assignment, as Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal tweets.

Soto, a left-hander, appeared in six games for the Indians in 2015 but spent the bulk of the year in Triple-A Columbus.  In 46 Triple-A appearances (including one start), Soto posted a 3.69 ERA with 8.6 K/9 and 4.9 BB/9.  The soon-to-be 25-year-old is not to be confused with veteran catcher Geovany Soto, who is currently with the Angels.

Walters, 26, has appeared in 42 games for the Tribe over the last two years and has 82 big league appearances to his credit. The left fielder/shortstop came to the Indians in a 2014 deadline deal involving Asdrubal Cabrera.  After belting seven homers in the final weeks of the 2014 season, Walters’ power did not re-emerge at the major league level in 2015.

As the MLBTR DFA Tracker shows, Soto and Walters will now join a long list of players caught in the ten-day waiting period.

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