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Archives for June 2016

Tigers Select Contract Of Bobby Parnell, Designate Jose Valdez

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The Tigers announced today that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Bobby Parnell from Triple-A Toledo and designated fellow righty Jose Valdez for assignment in order to clear a spot  on the 40-man roster (links to Twitter). Australian right-hander Warwick Saupold was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a groin injury, necessitating the addition of Parnell to the big league bullpen.

Parnell, 31, signed a minor league deal with Detroit and headed to Toledo after he didn’t make the team out of Spring Training. The former Mets closer has pitched to a 3.98 ERA in 20 1/3 innings with the Mud Hens this season, though he’s also posted a fairly uninspiring 16-to-11 K/BB ratio in that time. Parnell is looking to reestablish himself as a quality Major League reliever after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2014 and missing much of the 2015 season while recovering from that injury and, later in the year, some tendinitis in his right shoulder. All in all, he posted a 6.38 ERA in 24 innings last season.

Injury problems for Parnell date back further than just the 2014-15 campaigns, however. In 2013, Parnell was in the midst of a dominant season as the Mets’ closer before a herniated disk in his neck left him unable to pitch after July 30. On a more positive note, he did work to a 2.16 ERA in 50 innings that season, and he was generally impressive from 2010-13, generating a 2.79 ERA with 8.5 K/9 against 2.8 BB/9 in 213 innings of work. Parnell’s average fastball velocity is understandably down from its 97.2 mph peak (2011), but he still averaged 93 mph on his heater last season.

As for Valdez, the 26-year-old made his big league debut in 2015 when he allowed four runs on 10 hits and four walks with four strikeouts in nine innings out of the Detroit bullpen. He’s battled his control between Double-A and Triple-A this season, though, walking 12 batters, hitting one and uncorking three wild pitches in 20 innings of relief en route to a combined 4.50 ERA. It’s worth noting that Baseball America rated him 23rd among Detroit farmhands entering the season, although BA questioned his control and noted that he’s frequently behind in the count due to an inability to consistently command either his fastball or his slider.

Phillies Designate Emmanuel Burris

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The Phillies have designated utilityman Emmanuel Burriss for assignment, the team announced. His roster spot will go to the just-acquired Jimmy Paredes.

Burriss, 31, got his first substantial crack at the majors since 2012 this year with the Phils. (He did appear briefly last year with the Nationals.) Previously, he played a significant reserve role over a five-year span with the Giants.

Despite plenty of opportunity to go around on the current Phillies roster, Burries only managed to pick up 36 plate appearances over 27 games. He owns a meager .121/.194/.212 batting line on the year.

Phillies Acquire Jimmy Paredes

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The Phillies have acquired utilityman Jimmy Paredes from the Blue Jays, Philadelphia announced. Toronto will receive cash considerations in return for Paredes, who had been designated for assignment recently by the Jays.

The 27-year-old Paredes is capable of playing second, third, and the corner outfield. Plus, he swings from both sides of the plate, making him a flexible addition for a Phillies club that’s struggled to score runs. Clearly, the Phillies are intrigued by Paredes, as the club reportedly placed a waiver claim on him after he was designated for assignment and waived by the Orioles. However, the Blue Jays had waiver priority over the Phils at that point. This time around, the Phillies circumvented the waiver process by simply acquiring him in a trade.

Paredes certainly could help in the offensive department if he can keep up or improve upon his recent results. Since the start of 2014, he owns a roughly league-average .277/.311/.424 batting line with 13 home run and eight steals over 466 plate appearances.

Of course, Paredes isn’t very highly regarded with the glove, and he’s generally been much more successful against right-handed pitching. That limits his function for Philadelphia, but it’s not hard to see how he could be deployed to add some punch to a lineup that has received sub-par production from second base (Cesar Hernandez) and the corner outfield (Peter Bourjos, Tyler Goeddel, David Lough).

NL Notes: Padres, Cards, Reds, D-Backs

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The Padres had a chance to add righty Michael Fulmer from the Mets at last year’s trade deadline, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Instead, San Diego held onto Justin Upton and recouped a draft pick via the qualifying offer, which the club will put to use alongside many other early picks in a few weeks. Fulmer, of course, ended up with the Tigers when New York cashed him in for Yoenis Cespedes. The jettisoned Carlos Gomez trade had already provided an interesting set of alternative history scenarios, and this deal-that-never-was only adds to the intrigue.

Here’s more from the National League:

  • The breakout performance of Aledmys Diaz has the Cardinals looking for ways to adapt the rest of the roster to a new full-time shortstop, as Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. St. Louis has had discussions with both Jhonny Peralta and Matt Carpenter about occupying more versatile roles — something in the mold of, but less dramatic than, Ben Zobrist’s old position-less situation with the Rays. Both Peralta and Carpenter have played multiple positions in the majors already, but it seems that the variety and day-to-day volatility may increase somewhat. Meanwhile, GM John Mozeliak said that he has high expectations for Diaz. “[G]iven what you’re seeing out of Diaz at his age [25], you really need to see him develop at shortstop,” said the veteran executive. “When you look at what he’s been able to do, seeing him hold that spot for the next five or six years is reasonable to think.”
  • Reds president of baseball operations Walt Jocketty says that his organization has not been fielding calls on possible trade pieces, MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon reports. Jocketty says his expectation is that trade chatter won’t really pick up until late June. “It’s really hard to say,” said Jocketty. “I don’t think anything will happen much until after the Draft. That’s usually when it starts to happen, a couple of weeks after the Draft.” Of course, that’s not to say that there isn’t any action in the month of June; I recently looked back at some notable trades in recent years and we just saw a swap yesterday involving a veteran reliever.
  • Over at Fangraphs, Dave Cameron suggests that the Diamondbacks ought to consider what might be their boldest move yet: dangling the just-signed Zack Greinke in trade talks this summer. While the organization is committed to near-term contention, says Cameron, it may not have the flexibility it needs to address its many concerns over the winter. Dealing Greinke this summer in a market that looks light on arms would offer an opportunity to big-budget contenders to add a premium pitcher in advance of a free agent class that falls well shy of last year’s crop of talent. While Greinke hasn’t been as sharp as last year, and has posted far worse results, he’d certainly still draw interest, even if his huge salary would require some serious negotiating. All told, the scenario seems rather unlikely — as Cameron acknowledges — but is interesting to consider.

Injury Notes: ERod, d’Arnaud, Carrasco, Sano, Pennington

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The Red Sox received a highly promising start from southpaw Eduardo Rodriguez last night, as Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald reports. While Rodriguez wasn’t quite up to the top velocity he showed last year, he was working comfortably at 93 mph and said he expects to see gains in that department as he continues to build up. The youngster made his 2016 debut just one day before the calendar flipped to June after a prolonged absence due to a knee injury. Boston will surely hope that Rodriguez can provide a boost to a rotation that has had its share of concerns over the season’s first two months.

Here are a few more injury notes from around the game:

  • Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud could head out on a rehab assignment this weekend, Rubin reports. His return could provide a big boost to a New York club that has suffered some notable health issues of late. Fellow young receiver Kevin Plawecki has struggled at the plate in d’Arnaud’s stead and could end up being demoted, per Rubin, who says that the team is pleased with what it’s getting from veteran Rene Rivera behind the dish even if he, too, isn’t hitting much.
  • There was good news also for the Indians, who expect to start righty Carlos Carrasco on Thursday, as Ryan Lewis of the Akron Beacon Journal tweets. It seems that Carrasco will be limited to around eighty pitches in his first outing back, but will obviously be expected to ramp up from there. The 29-year-old allowed just six earned runs in his first 22 frames on the year before suffering a hamstring injury.
  • The Twins will place third baseman Miguel Sano on the 15-day DL after he suffered a left hamstring strain. As MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger reports on Twitter, Sano is hopeful that he won’t be out any longer than the minimum, though we’ve certainly seen hamstring issues linger and the organization will want to ensure it doesn’t turn into a bigger issue. Prospect Max Kepler will return to the majors to take his roster spot.
  • The Angels appear to have lost infielder Cliff Pennington to an aggravation of his own left hamstring injury, as Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reports, with a DL stint seemingly likely. That could means that Kaleb Cowart or Brendan Ryan will be headed back to the big league club, though the former was just sent down and the latter requires a 40-man spot.

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