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Archives for June 2012

Minor Moves: Fox, Royals

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Some of today's minor transactions from around the league…

  • The Pirates released Jake Fox from Triple-A Indianapolis in order to make room for infielder Jordy Mercer, according to Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (on Twitter). Fox, 30 in July, hit .236/.309/.366 in 139 PAs at Triple-A this season. He's seen Major League time with the Cubs, A's, and Orioles. His big league experience has come at catcher and all four corner positions.
  • Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star tweets that the Royals released three minor leaguers (Twitter link): right-hander Parker Bangs, outfielder Runey Davis, and third baseman Jake Kuebler. Bangs was selected in the 31st round in 2010 and has just 27 2/3 innings of minor league action. Davis was selected by the Cubs in the 12th round of the 2009 draft, and Kuebler was a 17th round pick of the Royals in 2008.

Padres Getting Calls On Chase Headley, Will Listen

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The Padres are getting calls on third baseman Chase Headley, reports Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. San Diego will listen to offers but it will require "a lot" to part with him.

The 28-year-old Headley has hit .269/.373/.415 with seven homers and eight steals this season. The switch-hitter quietly owns a career .300/.366/.444 batting line away from Petco Park and his defense at the hot corner is well-regarded. FanGraphs says he's been the 13th most valuable position player in baseball this season at 3.0 wins above replacement, or WAR.

Headley will earn $3.475MM this season, his second as an arbitration-eligible player. Since he's a Super Two, he still has two more years of team control remaining before becoming eligible for free agency after the 2014 season.

Orioles Release Miguel Tejada

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The Orioles have released Miguel Tejada at his request according to Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com (on Twitter). Baltimore signed the 38-year-old to a minor league contract last month.

Tejada played 35 games with the team's Triple-A affiliate, hitting .260/.327/.290 in 147 plate appearances. He hit .239/.270/.326 in 343 plate appearances for the Giants last season before being released.

Padres Claim Mark Hamburger Off Waivers

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The Padres have claimed right-hander Mark Hamburger off waivers from the Rangers and optioned him to Triple-A, the team announced. Jeremy Hermida was transferred to the 60-day DL to clear a 40-man roster spot.

Hamburger, 25, had been designated for assignment late last week to clear a spot on the roster for Roy Oswalt. He appeared in five games for Texas last year and has spent this season at Triple-A, where he has a 6.55 ERA with 7.3 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9 in 45 1/3 innings.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Nationals, Guthrie, Angels, Porcello

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In today's column, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports argues that the biggest trade of the season has already been made. No, not Kevin Youkilis to the White Sox. He's referring to Ernesto Frieri, who's thrown 22 scoreless innings for the Angels team since being acquired from the Padres. Here are the rest of Rosenthal's rumors…

  • The Nationals have been poking around for a right-handed hitting corner infielder to replace Mark DeRosa, who is hurt and declining. John Lannan has improved his trade stock by pitching better of late in Triple-A.
  • The Rockies have cooled on the idea of trading Jeremy Guthrie for the time being because they feel he could thrive in the bullpen as part of their four-man rotation setup. The team's current stance is that they'll only deal him if a club offers real talent or salary relief.
  • The Diamondbacks backed off Youkilis because of concerns about his defense on the hard and fast infield at Chase Field. They expect Stephen Drew to return this week to bolster their infield.
  • The Angels were not in on Youkilis but remain on the lookout for bullpen help, specifically a left-on-left reliever who would be an upgrade over Hisanori Takahashi. They're also looking for Triple-A starting pitching depth.
  • Rosenthal say talk about Rick Porcello as a trade candidate makes sense given his salary ($3.1MM) and ground ball approach on a Tigers team with poor infield defense.
  • The Braves will be a team to watch before the deadline, specifically in the starting pitching market following Brandon Beachy's injury.

East Links: Braves, Rays, Marlins

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Eight of the 18 big league teams with a .500 or better record reside in the two East divisions. Here's the latest from the AL and NL East…

  • The Braves have discussed using money budgeted for 2013 to make a trade this year according to MLB.com's Mark Bowman (on Twitter). Atlanta could be on the hunt for pitching with Brandon Beachy injured and Mike Minor/Randall Delgado experiencing growing pains.
  • "It's not by design that we have somebody different lead us in saves each year," said Rays GM Andrew Friedman to ESPN's Jerry Crasnick. "It's dictated by resources. We have 'X' amount to allocate to field the most competitive roster we can. We can't afford to pay a guy $10 million or $12 million a year to throw 70 innings, so our approach is to have as many good, high-upside arms as we can and figure that one will fall out."
  • “I know who these guys are … I’m not a person who panics. I know what we did to put together this team," said Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports about his 34-38 club. Loria also rejected the idea that members of the coaching staff could be in danger of losing their jobs.

Poll: Trading Carlos Gonzalez

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The Rockies have baseball’s third worst record at 27-44 because they have the game’s least effective pitching staff, a crew that has allowed an average of 5.7 runs per game. Offseason pickup Jeremy Guthrie (6.34 ERA) has been both hurt and ineffective, ditto both Jhoulys Chacin (7.30 ERA) and Juan Nicasio (5.28 ERA). Jamie Moyer’s feel-good story came to an unceremonious end when he was released after pitching to a 5.70 ERA.

Last weekend, Joel Sherman of The New York Post opined that Colorado should consider trading outfielder Carlos Gonzalez for prospects while noting there is no indication that he is actually available. Troy Renck of The Denver Post countered today by saying CarGo is simply too young, too good, and too affordable to trade. The 26-year-old has hit .328/.385/.604 this season and is under contract for approximately $73.5MM through 2017.

Players like Gonzalez don’t getting traded very often, but it’s safe to say he would command a monster package. The number of teams that both have a need in the outfield as well as the young players to swing a deal is limited, but the Rockies will surely find suitors if they put one of their two superstar hitters on the market.

Mets Designate Vinny Rottino For Assignment

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The Mets have designated Vinny Rottino for assignment, the team announced (on Twitter). The move creates room on the roster for left-handed reliever Justin Hampson.

Rottino, 32, hit .182/.308/.394 in 39 plate appearances this season. He did his best work against left-handers (.200/.355/.480) and played first, third, and left field. The 32-year-old Hampson has not appeared in the big leagues since 2008 and owns a 3.38 ERA in 96 relief innnigs.

Quick Hits: Rizzo, Bauer, Mets, Lillibridge

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R.A. Dickey's streak of not allowing an earned run came to an end during the third inning of Sunday night's game against the Yankees. With 44 2/3 innings of earned run-free baseball, Dickey's performance pales in comparison to Orel Hershiser's record 59 consecutive innings of scoreless baseball set in 1988 while with the Dodgers. What makes Hershiser's feat even more impressive is that he actually continued the streak into the playoffs as he threw eight more run-free innings to give him 67 in total. Here's the latest news from around the league…

  • Anthony Rizzo is expected to make his Cubs debut this Tuesday against the Mets at Wrigley Field, writes David Kaplan of CSNChicago.com. The franchise's top prospect has mastered the art of hitting Triple-A pitching as he's currently the owner of a .349/.410/.710 batting line.
  • Trevor Bauer, the third pick in the 2011 amateur draft, will make his Major League debut for the Diamondbacks on Thursday after enjoying extensive success at the minor league level, according to Jack Magruder of FOXSportsArizona.com. The right-hander has a 2.79 ERA, 10.9 K/9 and 4.3 BB/9 at Triple-A this season.
  • The Mets are in desperate need of bullpen help, but will probably have to wait until after the All-Star break to make a move as there are currently very few sellers, tweets ESPN.com's Buster Olney.
  • Utility man Brent Lillibridge tweets his gratitude to the White Sox organization and his love for the city of Chicago as he looks forward to the next chapter of his career with the Red Sox. Lillibridge, 28, is headed to Boston after being traded with Zach Stewart in exchange for Kevin Youkilis and cash earlier on Sunday.

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