Lost in all the negative stories surrounding the 2012 edition of the Boston Red Sox is the fact that corner outfielder Cody Ross has been very productive, and a steal at one-year, $3 million this past offseason. But the Boston front office is paying close attention. According to Nick Cafardo’s Sunday notes column in the…
Here are the latest outright assignments, courtesy of the MLB.com transactions page…
The Blue Jays have outrighted right-hander Juan Abreu to Triple-A. Toronto claimed the 27-year-old off waivers from the Astros earlier this week. He’s pitched to a 7.04 ERA in 46 Triple-A relief innings this year.
The Rockies have outrighted right-hander Mike Ekstrom to Triple-A. The 28-year-old was designated for assignment earlier this week after allowing 11 runs in 15 2/3 relief innings for Colorado this season.
The Yankees have outrighted right-hander Ryota Igarashi to Triple-A. New York claimed the 33-year-old off waivers from the Blue Jays earlier this season, and he’s allowed four runs during his three innings in pinstripes.
The Twins have outrighted outfielder Rene Tosoni to Triple-A. The 26-year-old hit .218/.299/.314 in 293 plate appearances at various levels of Minnesota’s farm system this year.
Today’s minor moves, courtesy of Baseball America’s Matt Eddy..
The Diamondbacks signed right-hander Brett Tomko. The 39-year-old was released by the Reds earlier this month after posting a 3.78 ERA with 6.5 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9 in 12 Triple-A starts.
The Diamondbacks also signed third baseman Matt Mangini, who was recently released by the Rays. Mangini was with Tampa Bay’s Triple-A affiliate but has been assigned to Double-A Mobile. The 26-year-old had a cup of coffee in the majors with the Mariners in 2010.
Tigers outfielder Don Kelly cleared waivers and accepted his outright assignment to Triple-A Toledo. Kelly was outrighted after being DFA’d on August 3rd.
The Twins signed right-hander Eric Hurley, who elected free agency from the Angels last month. The 2004 first-round pick was once viewed as a high-ceiling prospect but has yet to appear in the majors since a five-game stint with the Rangers in 2008.
Carl Pavano tried to pitch through a shoulder injury early on this season and was absolutely terrible, finally shutting things down in early June. He’s made slow progress since then and based on his minor league rehab outing last night at Single-A it doesn’t like he’ll be rejoining the Twins for a while. Joe Frisaro…
For the eighth time in his ten seasons, Miguel Cabrera reached the 30 home run mark. His shot Wednesday afternoon helped the Tigers to a 5-1 win over Minnesota. Miguel has never reached 40 homers in his career, but with about six weeks left in the season, he has a decent chance to reach that round number. His single season high stands at 38.
Miguel is not close to making the top ten list of home runs hit through seasonal age 29. You will notice that most of the top players through that age did not go on to set home run records. Only Henry Aaron, who is tied for seventh, went on to hit 700 dingers. The history of young hitters with big home run totals is that they burn out. I thought Alex Rodriguez might avoid that, simply because he was so far ahead of every one else. Injuries took their toll on him however, like they did on his former teammate Ken Griffey, Jr. Aaron’s teammate, Eddie Mathews, had more home runs than Aaron through age 29, but came no where near Ruth’s record.
My point is that Miguel’s career total of 307 home runs doesn’t look gaudy, but neither were the totals of Bonds, Aaron, or Ruth through that age. Miguel might be the kind of player that surprises at the end of his career.
Miguel Cabrera got to 100 RBI last night. On Wednesday, he reached 30 homers by taking Minnesota’s Cole De Vries deep in his first at-bat. In so doing, he became the first player in Tigers history to reach to hit 30 homers in five straight seasons. Surprisingly enough, just 18 different Tigers have had 30-homer…
So far among AL starters anyway. Jeremy Guthrie couldn’t solve Coors Field, but he appears to have found his comfort zone in Kansas City. The veteran right-hander backed up his eight shutout-inning performance against the White Sox last week with seven more scoreless innings Tuesday in a victory over the A’s. Guthrie allowed just three…
Yankees 8, Rangers 2: I suppose the critical mass of people mocking the Yankees’ pickup of Derek Lowe was just too delicious for God or Loki or Fate or whatever controls our world to pass up, because He/it/whatever decided to play it funny with us and allow Mr. Lowe to toss four scoreless innings in…
Tsuyoshi Nishioka hasn’t played since going 0-for-12 with a half-dozen fielding mistakes in last week’s three-game series against the Indians and not surprisingly the Twins have optioned him back to Triple-A. The move was made to clear a roster spot for Trevor Plouffe’s return from the disabled list, as the slugging third baseman has missed [...]
Desmond Jennings homered and singled Sunday afternoon for the Rays, his single leading to his scoring the winning run in the tenth as the Rays beat the Twins 7-3. After a poor June and July, he’s on a hot streak in August. In nine game he collected 12 hits, seven for extra bases, and scored 11 runs. He’s a big reason the Rays are 9-2 on the month.
With the Yankees losing, the Rays are just five games out of first place, with the Orioles 1/2 game back. Could we be looking at an epic collapse on the part of the Yankees? The Bronx Bombers tend not to collapse (compared to say the Red Sox), although they were the first team to blow a 3-0 lead in the playoffs. They were up 10 games on July 18, so in less than a month their lead was cut in half.
Before the season, we identified 11 players who were entering “make or break” years. These guys had experienced ups and downs in their respective careers and were positioned to re-establish themselves as difference makers at the Major League level and set themselves up for nice paydays in the future. Now that we’re into August, let’s take a second to check in each player (all links go to MLBTR posts)…
Scott Baker, Twins — Baker, 30, had elbow surgery in April and will miss the entire season. Minnesota will likely decline his $9.25MM option for 2013 (no buyout).
Phil Hughes, Yankees — The 26-year-old right-hander owns a 4.10 ERA in 131 2/3 innings this year, including a 3.40 ERA since mid-May. He’s a safe bet to be tendered a contract for 2014, his final year as a arbitration-eligible player.
Jair Jurrjens, Braves — Jurrjens, 26, pitched so poorly earlier in the season that he had to be sent to the minors. He’s since resurfaced and owns 6.89 ERA in 48 1/3 innings, cementing his status as a non-tender candidate.
Adam Lind, Blue Jays — Lind has battled back problems and also been demoted to Triple-A this season, and he’s hit .227/.298/.394 while with the big league team. The 29-year-old continues to disappoint since signing his four-year, $18MM extension prior to 2010.
Francisco Liriano, White Sox — It’s been another up and down season for the 28-year-old southpaw, who owns a 5.03 ERA in 111 innings. The Twins traded Liriano to the ChiSox at the deadline.
James Loney, Dodgers — Loney, now 28, hasn’t helped himself at all this season, hitting just .251/.301/.330 in 327 plate appearances. He might have to settle for a minor league contract this coming offseason.
Kendrys Morales, Angels — The 29-year-old is hitting .282/.327/.455 with 14 homers on the year, well below the level he established prior to his leg injury in 2010. Morales figures to be both a trade and non-tender candidate after the season.
Mike Pelfrey, Mets — Pelfrey pitched to a 2.29 ERA in three starts before needing Tommy John surgery. The Mets are expected to non-tender the 28-year-old after the season.
Geovany Soto, Rangers — The 29-year-old backstop has continued to deal with injuries in 2012 and is hitting just .201/.289/.356. Soto is an obvious non-tender candidate.
Kevin Youkilis, White Sox — Youkilis lost his starting job with the Red Sox and was traded to the White Sox, who are likely to decline his $13MM option after the season. The 33-year-old has dealt with nagging injuries and is hitting .238/.339/.427 overall.
Delmon Young, Tigers — Young, 26, has had a below-average season at the plate (.266/.298/.402) and has dealt with some off-field problems. He hasn’t helped his free agent stock any.
Trevor Plouffe hasn’t played since jamming his right thumb on a swing back on July 20, but he could be back in the Twins’ starting lineup on Monday if all goes according to plan. Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com reports that Plouffe was cleared to begin a minor league rehab assignment after making it through batting…
Here are the day’s minor moves…
The Diamondbacks acquired utility man Tyler Kuhn from the White Sox for cash, reports Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com (Twitter links). The 25-year-old hit .273/.309/.384 in 449 plate appearances for Chicago’s Triple-A affiliate this season while playing second base, third base, and left field.
The Twins have signed Taiwanese pitching prospect Chih-Wei Hu for $220K, reports MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez (on Twitter). The 18-year-old right-hander reportedly runs his fastball into the low-90s.
Tsuyoshi Nishioka just completed the worst three-game series I’ve ever seen from a major leaguer, going 0-for-12 at the plate, committing three errors in the field, and making several other obvious defensive miscues that weren’t officially ruled errors. He also played horribly at Triple-A prior to being called up and was plenty awful in Minnesota…
Shin-Soo Choo broke out of his slump with a four for four afternoon, and Justin Masterson gave the Indians a good start as Cleveland beats Minnesota 6-2. That snaps the 11-game Cleveland losing streak, but it may be too late for the Indians to get back into contention. Choo hit a double and three singles, after recording just 11 hits in his last 14 games.
The Indians received a rare good start from a pitcher Tuesday night, but the defense helped blow a 5-1 lead as the Twins score five unearned runs to beat the Indians 7-5. Three of those runs came in the top of the ninth, as Carlos Perez took the blown save and the loss. The Indians losing streak goes to 11 games as they continue to fade in the AL Central. They are now just one game ahead of the Twins, as Minnesota is 7-3 in their last 10 games.
