There are quite a few minor moves to cover, with Baseball America’s Matt Eddy releasing several weeks’ worth of transactions. We’ll use this post to cover the most notable ones that haven’t yet featured on MLBTR:
- The Angels released outfielder Ben Revere, who could perhaps be an interesting player to target for contending clubs that like the idea of adding a good defender and baserunning threat to their system. Revere, 30, hasn’t seen the majors this year after seven-straight seasons of action at the game’s highest level. He’s slashing .277/.319/.406 with a pair of steals through 166 plate appearances at Triple-A.
- Ending a relationship that never seemed to work out, the Dodgers have cut loose infielder Erisbel Arruebarrena. Now 28, the former international signee hadn’t played much in the club’s system since he was suspended in May of 2016.
- The Phillies have released a pair of former big leaguers: infielder Danny Espinosa and outfielder Adron Chambers. Espinosa’s always fickle bat has not yet recovered from a 2017 nosedive. In 240 Triple-A plate appearances with three organizations this year, he owns a .295/.239/.312 slash. Chambers, meanwhile, hasn’t seen the majors since 2013 and last played affiliated ball in 2015, but came back from an indy stint to produce a .278/.328/.437 batting line in 138 Triple-A plate appearances.
- A host of players received their walking papers from the Diamondbacks. Righty Brian Ellington is among them; the flamethrower struggled badly with his command in limited minor-league action. Southpaw Anthony Vasquez was also released after after 85 2/3 innings of 5.04 ERA ball in the upper minors. The club also dropped several outfielders. Cesar Puello (.317/.426/.454) and Dan Robertson (.263/.361/.407) are both former big leaguers who were getting on base at Reno, but will now seek other opportunities.
- The Giants released two notable players in righty Chris Heston and backstop Ryan Hanigan. Heston, 30, only made nine appearances in the minors this year owing to injury. Hanigan, who’s closing in on his 38th birthday, is still looking to crack the majors for the 12th-straight season but did not help his cause with a .175/.254/.193 batting line in 63 plate appearances at Triple-A.
- The Cubs parted with Ryan Webb after he made just 11 appearances at the Rookie ball level. It is not immediately clear why the 32-year-old did not get a shot in the upper minors, or what’s next for him In eight seasons of MLB pitching, from 2009 through 2016, Webb owns a 3.43 ERA through 393 1/3 innings.
- A variety of other former major-league relief pitchers were also on the move. Among them: The White Sox signed once-promising Braves reliever Mauricio Cabrera. Righty Dallas Beeler was released by the Royals. A trio of former MLB lefties are back in free agency after being cut free: Elvis Araujo (Orioles); Paco Rodriguez (Twins); and Dario Alvarez (Mariners).
- Meanwhile, the Mariners parted with outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis and the Nationals did the same with Alejandro De Aza. One-time Rule 5 pick Taylor Featherston landed with the Reds.
Isn’t the above AAA line for Danny Espinosa supposed to be..[.195]/.239/.312…rite??
He could have hit a lot of sac flies.
A real lot. Like a new record.
I’m glad you mentioned that. Because I saw that and wondered why someone batting .300 is being released. Lol
Yeah I was wondering about that. Either .195 or .205?
Yes it should be .195.
Also, it’s a shame what injuries have done to Paco Rodriguez’s career..
And what a bummer for Mauricio Cabrera..He once looked so promising, especially with his FB touching as high as 103 and reaching 99-101 consistently..Unfortunately, he wasn’t ever able to throw any kind of secondary pitch with regularity, and for whatever reason he completely lost the run off his FB after his ML debut..Maybe someone can teach him to consistently throw and be able to locate either a splitter, slider, curve, or change, and then he needs to learn to take some off his FB and focus on getting some more movement, along with his command and his control..
You don’t find his kind of arm talent just anywhere, so I’m sure he will continue to get more opportunities..But, if he can’t get it figured out, he’ll continue to struggle, even at AA…/:
Don Cooper is a big proponent of teaching reclamation project pitchers how to throw a cutter. It got Esteban Loaiza into two All Star games in the mid-2000s.
Ben Revere got released almost a month ago
They did say it was “several weeks worth” of transactions.
This write-up missed the secondary move for Cesar Puello from the original article – he signed a minor league contract with the San Francisco Giants and is currently on their AAA team.
Yeah. Pretty ridiculous that they are just now listing transactions that occurred nearly two weeks ago.
Revere only having a pair of steal attempts in 40 games seems to be something that points to it being near the end of the line for him.
thought that was odd too. but he does have 2 triples, so it could just be a team philosophy rather than an indictment of his speed.
I believe he broke his foot sometime during his time in triple a
Yeah, his mlb.com page says he was on the DL from 4/16 to 6/10 with a left foot fracture.
Chris Heston will sign another minors deal with the Giants in the offseason, as that is just the way the Giants do things.
With Martin out, maybe the Tribe could use Ben Revere.
As a Mets fan, I certainly understand how disappointing Cesar Puello can be. But cut him when he’s hitting .317 with an .880 OPS? I know it’s the PCL, but jeez.
He’s a journeyman, not a prospect. He’s just there to fill roster space. The numbers aren’t the issue. This is the time of year when teams start promoting their real prospects. If the org felt the AAA roster space -and playing time – was better spent on a kid they’re moving up from AA, they cut the journeyman loose. You’re also overlooking the possibility that Puello himself asked to be released and find another opportunity, rather than sit on the bench. This transaction is nearly two weeks old – he did, in fact, get signed by SF two days later and is playing in Sacramento (where his OPS is only .661 in the somewhat pitcher-friendly park. Reno is one of the MOST hitter friendly parks in the PCL).
Hey, MLBTR. If you’re going to have a two-week lag on transactions, how about informing us of the fact that these things are out of date. Some of these guys could (and have) already gotten other jobs by now. Not sure why the big delay. Some college (or even high school) intern can look up the AAA transactions in five or ten minutes a day.
First line of the article: “There are quite a few minor moves to cover, with Baseball America’s Matt Eddy releasing several weeks’ worth of transactions. We’ll use this post to cover the most notable ones that haven’t yet featured on MLBTR”.
I agree that it shouldn’t take several weeks to scan a bunch of AAA transactions pages.