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Minor MLB Transactions: 6/28/17

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Here are the day’s minor moves…

  • The Twins announced that left-hander Mason Melotakis has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A. The 26-year-old lefty was designated for assignment last week in somewhat of a surprise move, as he’s long rated as one of their better bullpen prospects and had delivered strong results between Double-A and Triple-A this season. However, the former second-rounder’s velocity is also reportedly down in recent outings, which may have contributed to the decision to designate him and the lack of a claim. Through 27 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A this season, Melotakis has a 2.28 ERA with 10.4 K/9, 2.9 BB/9 and a ground-ball rate north of 50 percent. He’ll head back to Triple-A Rochester and hope to work his way back into Minnesota’s plans later this year.
  • The D-backs announced last night that catcher Oscar Hernandez, who was designated for assignment over the weekend, has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Double-A Jackson. The former Rule 5 pick (out of the Rays’ system in 2014) has posted a woeful .197/.263/.352 slash line through 156 Double-A plate appearances this year. Hernandez is still just 23, though, and he’s considered a strong defensive backstop. He’s shut down 43 percent of attempted stolen bases against him and has received strong framing grades from Baseball Prospectus in each of the past couple of seasons.

Brewers To Place Chase Anderson On Disabled List

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The Brewers will put right-hander Chase Anderson on the 10-day disabled list, tweets MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy. Milwaukee announced tonight that Anderson exited his start with a strained left oblique muscle that he suffered on a swing at the plate. McCalvy adds that Anderson is facing a “long absence” and notes that the righty said he felt as if he’d been stabbed in the side upon taking the swing that caused the injury.

Oblique strains often lead to an absence in the four to six week range, though there’s no word yet on the severity of the strain. While Grade 1 strains often come with that roughly month-long timetable, Cole Hamels missed upwards of eight weeks with an oblique issue this year. Tyler Skaggs was diagnosed with a Grade 2 oblique strain back on May 1 and was given a projected recovery time of 10 to 12 weeks.

[Related: Milwaukee Brewers depth chart]

An absence of even a month for Anderson is a terrible loss for the Brewers. The 29-year-old is in the midst of a breakout season, as he’s worked to an outstanding 2.89 ERA with 8.5 K/9, 2.7 BB/9 and a 38.1 percent ground-ball rate in 90 1/3 innings this year. Acquired from the Diamondbacks alongside prospect Isan Diaz (and some of Aaron Hill’s remaining contract) in the trade that sent Jean Segura to Arizona, Anderson avoided arbitration as a Super Two player this offseason and is earning $2.45MM in 2017. He’s controllable for another three years via arbitration.

With Anderson on the shelf, the Brewers will need to fill a spot in what’s been a surprisingly solid rotation. Right-handers Jimmy Nelson, Zach Davies, Matt Garza and Junior Guerra will remain in the starting rotation, but alternatives options Wily Peralta and Brandon Woodruff are both presently on the disabled list. Speculatively speaking, the club could try stretching lefty Josh Hader back out into a starting role, though it seems likelier that he remains in the ’pen, with Milwaukee turning to Paolo Espino, Taylor Jungmann or another depth option from the minors.

Rays Designate Danny Farquhar For Assignment

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The Rays have designated right-hander Danny Farquhar for assignment and will activate right-handed reliever Brad Boxberger from the disabled list tomorrow, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter links).

The 30-year-old Farquhar tossed a scoreless inning in tonight’s game for Tampa Bay and has thrown a total of 35 frames for the Rays in 2017. In that time, he’s pitched to a 4.11 ERA with 8.5 K/9, 5.7 BB/9 and a 44.4 percent ground-ball rate. While the lack of control is obviously a problem for Farquhar, he was better not only in terms of limiting free passes but also in missing bats just one year ago. Last year with the Rays, he logged a strong 3.06 ERA with 11.7 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9 in 35 1/3 frames.

Farquhar was a Super Two player this past offseason and avoided arbitration for the first time, agreeing to a $900K salary. If the Rays ultimately place him on waivers, that figure — of which about $467K remains — is manageable enough that he’d be a candidate to be claimed. Of course, it’s possible that the Rays also gauge trade interest in Farquhar, who has a 3.65 ERA and nearly 10 strikeouts per nine innings across his past 192 1/3 Major League innings and is controllable via arbitration through the 2020 season.

Injury Notes: Bird, Austin, Ahmed, Gsellman, Anderson, Jackson

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There’s concern within the Yankees organization that Greg Bird won’t make it back at all this season, manager Joe Girardi admitted to the YES Network’s Meredith Marakovits (Twitter link). Bird is still feeling soreness in his injured foot/ankle — an injury that has limited him to just 25 games between the Majors and Triple-A this season. Further complicating the situation is that Tyler Austin could be DL-bound, per Girardi (via ESPN’s Andrew Marchand). Marchand notes that if Austin does indeed land on the disabled list, Chris Carter could make a quick return to the lineup after accepting today’s outright assignment to Triple-A.

More injury news from around the game…

  • The Diamondbacks announced today that backup infielder Nick Ahmed has been placed on the 10-day DL with a fractured right hand, and offseason acquisition Ketel Marte has been recalled from Triple-A Reno in his place. Per MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert, Ahmed had three pins inserted into his hand and will be shut down from baseball activity for the next six weeks (Twitter link). It could be eight weeks before Ahmed, the team’s best defensive infielder, returns to the team. Ahmed is hitting just .251/.298/.419, but his glove will be missed. From 2015-16, Ahmed posted a +32 mark in Defensive Runs Saved and a +19.9 mark in Ultimate Zone Rating. As for Marte, the second key piece acquired in this offseason’s Taijuan Walker/Jean Segura/Mitch Haniger trade, he’ll debut in Arizona on the heels of a .338/.391/.514 batting line thus far in Triple-A.
  • The Mets will be without Robert Gsellman for a few weeks, writes Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News. Gsellman landed on the 10-day disabled list with a strained left hamstring, becoming the seventh Mets starting pitcher to land on the DL this year. Gsellman is the 17th Mets player to land on the DL this season, MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo notes. Rafael Montero will assume Gsellman’s spot in the rotation, though Ackert notes that the Mets were already considering that move due to Montero’s strong results as of late. Gsellman, meanwhile, has a 6.16 ERA in 76 innings this year, though that mark is partially skewed by a pair of outings this month in which Gsellman allowed a combined 14 earned runs in 9 1/3 innings.
  • Right-hander Chase Anderson exited tonight’s game with what the Brewers have announced as a strained left oblique muscle. There’s no word on how long he’ll miss and won’t be until after the game, but oblique injuries more often than not mean a month or so on the disabled list for a Grade 1 strain and even longer for more severe strains. That’s a brutal loss for the Brewers, who have enjoyed a breakout year from the 29-year-old Anderson thus far. Through 90 1/3 innings, Anderson has a 2.89 ERA with 8.5 K/9, 2.7 BB/9 and a 38.1 percent ground-ball rate. There are occasionally oblique injuries that don’t require such a lengthy absence, though history isn’t on Milwaukee’s side there.
  • The Indians placed Austin Jackson on the 10-day disabled list yesterday after an MRI revealed a strained quadriceps, president of baseball ops Chris Antonetti told reporters (via Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer). Antonetti said that the team’s expectation is that it’ll be three to four weeks before Jackson is able to return to the big league roster. Jackson, 30, is in the midst of a rather quiet rebound season, as he’s hitting a robust .304/.383/.500 through 120 plate appearances this season.

Cardinals Option Aledmys Diaz

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The Cardinals announced that they’ve optioned shortstop Aledmys Diaz to Triple-A Memphis and selected the contract of infielder Alex Mejia in a corresponding roster move. (Jen Langosch of MLB.com first reported the news, on Twitter). The move to option Diaz, who sandwiched a productive month of May between an ugly June and an uglier April, comes just about a month after St. Louis also optioned the struggling Randal Grichuk.

St. Louis has also released veteran infielder Jhonny Peralta over the past month, a move that was accompanied by a “no one is safe” message from general manager John Mozeliak, whose front office is clearly tired of the team’s lackluster play as of late. Diaz is hitting .260/.293/.396 on the season as a whole, but he’s collected just six hits in his past 30 plate appearances and hasn’t graded out well at shortstop, from a defensive standpoint (-9 Defensive Runs Saved, 0 Ultimate Zone Rating). More troubling, perhaps, is the fact that Diaz’s walk rate has been cut in half, while his chase rate on pitches outside the zone has soared by 10 percent (from 28.2 percent in ’16 to 38.6 percent in ’17).

The 26-year-old Diaz was a surprise breakout star last season — just months after being designated for assignment and being passed over by every other team in the league when he was on waivers. Injuries created an opportunity for Diaz last year, and he responded with a .300/.369/.510 batting line with 17 homers. The optional assignment for Grichuk earlier this year was similar to a surprising option of Kolten Wong a year prior in that both were relatively brief in nature.

Mejia, also 26, is a former fourth-round pick of the Cardinals (2012) that hasn’t hit much in the minors, but Baseball America rated him as the best defensive shortstop in the Double-A Texas League back in 2014. He’s batting .253/.309/.355 with three homers, 18 doubles and a steal through 293 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A this year.

Koda Glover Dealing With Inflammation, Two Strains In Shoulder

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Nationals closer Koda Glover has been on the disabled list for nearly three weeks due to back issues, but via Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com, he also revealed today that he’s dealing with “severe” inflammation in his rotator cuff as well as two separate strains in his right shoulder.

[Related: Washington Nationals depth chart]

Glover told the D.C. media that he began to feel pain in his shoulder well before the pain in his back, and he believes that the back injury actually stemmed from overcompensating for the shoulder discomfort he was pitching through. “I didn’t really know what was sore, what was hurt,” said Glover. “Nothing was really hurt, I thought, so I just kept pitching. Over time, I guess it just broke down, so my body broke down with it, the overcompensation.”

At the injury’s worst, Glover said that he wasn’t even able to lift his right arm, though he’s already been through an MRI exam which revealed the inflammation and strains but no significant structural damage. Nonetheless, a shoulder injury for Glover only further complicates the bullpen picture for a Washington relief corps that already figured to be a primary focus for GM Mike Rizzo on the trade market. There’s currently no timetable for Glover’s return, but it doesn’t sound as if he’ll be back all that soon, as they’re currently waiting for the inflammation to subside before he’s even cleared to resume throwing. On the plus side, the back pain that was plaguing Glover has subsided.

Glover, Shawn Kelley and Sammy Solis are all presently on the disabled list, which has led the Nats to entrust save opportunities to righty Matt Albers and lefty Enny Romero. In addition to that pair, Blake Treinen, Joe Blanton, Oliver Perez, Matt Grace and Jacob Turner presently comprise the remainder of the bullpen. As such, the Nationals will likely be linked to not only the bigger-name closers that become available in trade talks this summer, but also to setup men and middle relievers to fortify their entire relief unit. They’ve long been linked to David Robertson on the rumor circuit, and they also reportedly have at least some degree of interest in division rival Pat Neshek. Rizzo has already brought Francisco Rodriguez in on a minor league deal, but further moves over the next month seem like a virtual certainty.

Giants Place Mark Melancon On 10-Day DL

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The Giants have placed closer Mark Melancon on the 10-day DL, per a club announcement. He is dealing with the same pronator issue that forced him out earlier this year. Dan Slania will take the open roster spot.

Melancon, 32, has not quite looked himself since joining the Giants on a four-year, $62MM deal over the winter. Through 20 2/3 innings on the year, he has allowed ten earned runs on 25 hits. Though he still maintains typically strong strikeout and walk numbers — 8.3 K/9 against 1.3 BB/9 — the veteran has also coughed up three long balls and seen his groundball rate drop to 50.8% with his swinging-strike rate falling to 9.7% (both far lower than in recent seasons).

Despite enduring a bit of a rough stretch, Melancon could still feature as a trade candidate over the summer. That all depends upon just how interested the Giants are in shedding from future salary — while also embarking upon another search for a closer. (Interestingly, recently acquired righty Sam Dyson will take over closing duties for the time being after washing out of that role with the Rangers.) Though San Francisco is buried in the standings, the organization seems set up to return to contention next year.

The injury, though, functions as a major bit of uncertainty. It’s still possible that he could be dealt if he’s able to return and pitch effectively before the deadline. And Melancon’s contract is big enough that he could also be moved in August. But the forearm certainly enhances the risk in the hefty remaining value on the deal, particularly in the case of an older relief pitcher.

Yankees Place Holliday On DL, Outright Carter, Promote Andujar

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The Yankees have announced a series of roster moves. Veteran DH Matt Holliday will go on the 10-day DL with an illness, with the club seemingly still working to determine how to treat it, while veteran first baseman Chris Carter has accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A.

New York has also announced that it selected the contract of third baseman Miguel Andujar. (That move was first reported by Craig Mish of Sirius XM, on Twitter.) The 22-year-old had just earned a promotion to the highest level of the minors after hitting a robust .312/.342/.494 to open the year at Double-A.

The 37-year-old Holliday has had a resurgence at the plate with the Yankees thus far, batting a terrific .262/.366/.511 with 15 homers through 276 plate appearances. That puts the longtime Rockies/Cardinals slugger just five homers shy of his total from the 2016 season and just nine shy of the combined 24 homers he swatted with the Cards in 703 PAs from 2015-16.

The opposite held true for the much younger Carter, who signed a one-year deal to spend his age-30 season with the Yankees this past offseason. Though Carter led the National League in homers last year, he was non-tendered by the Brewers and found just a $3.5MM guarantee from the Yankees. Carter never recovered from a slow start to the year and ultimately was hitting just .204/.286/.383 with eight homers but a sky-high 70 strikeouts in 189 plate appearances (37 percent strikeout rate).

Andujar, just 22 years of age, will be making his big league debut for the Yanks and, in many regards, also auditioning for a longer-term role with the club. After tearing through Double-A pitching at a .312/.342/.494 pace to open the season, Andujar didn’t miss a beat during a quick Triple-A stop, where he slashed .308/.379/.462 in seven games prior to this promotion. He currently ranks ninth among Yankees farmhands, per Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com. ESPN’s Keith Law pegged him 10th headed into the year, while Baseball America rated him 12th and Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen had him 11th. Andujar draws praise for above-average defense at the hot corner and strong contact skills.

Mariners Outright Pat Light

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The Mariners have outrighted right-handed pitcher Pat Light, per a club announcement. That opens a 40-man roster spot, though it’s not immediately clear whether the team has plans for how to use it.

Seattle claimed the 26-year-old Light off waivers from the Pirates just under two weeks ago, though his stay on the 40-man was brief. Light has gone from the Red Sox to the Twins (in exchange for Fernando Abad) to the Pirates (for cash) to the Mariners all in a span of roughly 11 months.

It’s not hard to see the appeal of Light, who runs his fastball up to the upper 90s and averages nearly 95 mph on the pitch. He’s had no trouble missing bats in the minors and turned in a tantalizing 2.37 ERA with 9.9 K/9 against 4.5 BB/9 in 38 Triple-A frames last season. However, control problems have plagued the hard-throwing Light throughout his career (63 walks in 99 Triple-A innings), and he’s posted particularly unremarkable numbers in Triple-A this season. Through 28 innings between the Triple-A affiliates for the Pirates and Mariners, Light has a 4.82 ERA with a greatly diminished 6.4 K/9 rate and a still-problematic 5.8 BB/9 rate.

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