Here are the latest minor moves from around baseball…
- The Tigers have signed right-hander Chris Smith to a minor league contract, Robert Murray tweets. Smith was with the Tigers for a brief period last year, but he suffered an elbow injury in spring training and wound up needing Tommy John surgery. Detroit released him as a result, but he’s now back with the organization, and Murray notes that he should be ready to return by March or April. Now 31 years old, Smith has only thrown five major league innings (all with Toronto in 2017). The last time Smith pitched competitively, he threw 55 innings of 3.93 ERA/3.88 FIP ball with 10.64 K/9 and 3.44 BB/9 as a member of the Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate in 2018.
- The Blue Jays have picked up lefty Brian Moran on a minors pact with an invitation to MLB spring training, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. The soft-tossing Moran, 31, made his major league debut last season with the Marlins, throwing 6 1/3 innings of three-run ball with 10 strikeouts and two walks. The majority of his work came at the Triple-A level, where he posted a 3.15 ERA/4.18 FIP with 11.55 K/9, 3.9 BB/9 and a 47.1 percent groundball rate. The Marlins designated him for assignment on Jan. 15.
How come the comments aren’t closed on this thread? Not important enough to baseball fans?
I would object…
Because this is about baseball not trashball
Closing the comments on the Astros thread was totally ridiculous. The biggest scandal since steroids and they won’t let you talk about it.
Agreed!
what exactly was being said that was less tame than usual?
Angry Astros fans screaming?
You have things messed up.
We just turned 1 World Series into about 4-5.
Became even more hated than the Yankees
it was closed to begin with, I saw it right when it was posted
Tigers GM Al Avila continues his clown tricks.
Just a chance to get a dig in about Avila? I’m pretty sure Smith is just minor league filler. You make it seem like he’s going to replace Jimenez as closer.
Minor League fodder is exactly it. If Al really wanted butts in the seats, he coulda made the Tigers a little more competitive with the signing of Yasiel Puig. With a big need in the OF position, it’s a no brainer. Then at the trade deadline if he wanted to he could trade him away like he’s doing with all Major League talent we acquire. He’s doing near zero every year with his trading strategy not really gaining the players in return that he fantasized he would get. It’s gonna be another tough season to watch them lose and lose badly. You can rebuild and stay competitive, but he’s of the total tear down mentality instead of the suttle moves gradually.
Does anybody who comments negatively about every signing the Tigers make stop to think that maybe the big name free agents don’t want to come to Detroit. At least not for another year or two. Everyone in baseball including the players know that the Tigers have stud pitching prospects and barring injury will be on the team in a year or two. This is when the free agents will seriously consider signing with them, but not until then. I understand the frustration of watching a losing team, but one has to be observant enough to realize that the light at the end of the tunnel is getting pretty close now. Makes not much sense to overpay for a couple of extra wins at most at this point in time. At this point in the rebuild I’m actually not unhappy with the projected team. Sure I’d like to see another quality OF signing, but Puig is surely not the answer on a young rebuilding team.
My thoughts exactly. The ONLY way they’re going to get big names to come to the Tigers is by an extreme overpay, I think some fans are forgetting how they gradually built up in the early 2000s. They need to spend smartly not spend just to but butts in the seats now. If they did that, they’d end up with another Jordan Zimmermann albatross, more likely than not or a budget killing contract extension like Miggy. JZ comes off the books (finally!) at the end of the season so I’m sure they will be more active on the FA market next offseason. They’ve already signed a better crop of players this offseason than in the last few….even if they’re trade bait at the deadline. Fans have to be patient, the rebuild was necessary and it’s going to take time. I can, with great certainty, say this is not going to be as bad a season as last year and maybe they won’t finish last in the Central and win around 60 games. Has anyone looked at the Royals lately? How the mighty have fallen and fast! But that’s another subject for another time.
The idea that the Tigers can’t spend until the Zimmermann contract comes off the books is poppycock. They easily could, but they choose not to. The plan was for a long term rebuild, and so far, they are sticking to their plan. So don’t expect them to spend next off season either as that likely is not part of the plan. Only when some of these good young kids come to the majors will they start to spend on the pieces they need. That is likely not until after 2021 because most of that young talent will still spend most, if not all of 2020 in the minors. I know Avila and Chris Ilitch have both said that they will spend when the time is right, so for now, will take them at their word. My guess is that “right time” will be after 2022 season. The young kids will have had a year or maybe two in the majors and what they need will be in sharper focus. Also, the CBA expires after 2021 season, so they will have certainty regarding what the new CBA has in store. For now, Ilitch will be content to spend little and reap some profit.
The new CBA has nothing to do with the spending plans. Other teams have been signing contracts that go way beyond the expiration so that logic fails.
Also, I’ve heard many credible sources say that the Tigers will indeed start spending after 2020 due to the Zimmermann contract coming off the books, so I call your poppycock, poppycock.
We’ll see who’s correct in a year.
Can’t edit my comment….. I meant to say I call what you call poppycock, poppycock.
Guy goes 0-10 it’s open season on here. Guy found guilty of domestic violence, gets a free pass. On the other hand, some of the commenters are pretty bad trolls, so it makes it hard to moderate. The fact that Connor also encourages the behavior just makes it worse. So, I guess all and all, just easier to eliminate the comment section.
Brian Moran has probably better than average numbers all the way up the ladder and during a brief MLB stint.. Moran has been a three time Rule V draftee during his career so more than one GM thought he had something going on. This signing might be a hidden gem.
Finally…the “hidden gem” comment. I was waiting to see who’d drop it just like 100% of all minor league signings. We get it. Let’s see what happens.
I haven’t seen it posted here yet, but the Jays also signed Gabriel Guerrero (Vlad’s cousin who played a bit with the Reds in 2018 and spent last season in AAA with Miami) back in January to a minor league deal.
the next Wilton!
Have to keep the new king happy!!!
The Jays under Atkins and Shapiro do this every year. Some clubs do, good clubs don’t. They fill up their spring training roster with dumpster diving hoping they catch lightning in a bottle.
Fans call this good Mgmt. What baloney. When’s the last time you have seen the Yankees fill up their spring training rosters with also-rans to the degree that the Jays do it?
The Jays do it because they professional scouting is so bad so they use the trial and error method.
Signing Ryu was a good move as was Guchi for the bullpen. Most of the rest is filler except Giles and a healthy Borucki..
RHP Domingo Acevedo, LHP Luis Avilán, C Kellin Deglan, OF Zack Granite, RHP David Hale, INF/OF Rosell Herrera, C Chris Iannetta, C Erik Kratz, LHP Tyler Lyons, OF Thomas Milone, RHP Dan Otero, C Wynston Sawyer, C Josh Thole and RHP Nick Tropeano. Introducing your New York Yankees non-roster invitees.
The quality of these is much higher than the dumpster diving Jays.
Such a secret Yankees fan
did you even read his list jimmer? I count at least 3 ex-jays, Are you saying ya would be happy with Kratz and Thole again?
Josh Thole. Josh Thole. Josh Thole.
Now that we know about OF Andy Pages (part of the aborted Joc Pederson trade), he’s the guy that the totally ignorant Avila should get for Matt Boyd. He’d be coming up with that second wave (Faedo, maybe Greene). And he absolutely has to draft a college hitter with the no. 1 overall pick.