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Archives for November 2020

Giants Designate Chris Shaw, Aramis Garcia, Jordan Humphreys

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The Giants have designated first baseman/outfielder Chris Shaw, catcher Aramis Garcia and right-hander Jordan Humphreys for assignment. They added outfielder Alexander Canario and righties Kervin Castro, Camilo Doval and Gregory Santos to their 40-man roster in corresponding moves.

Shaw was once a well-regarded prospect for the Giants, but the 27-year-old hasn’t gotten an extensive look in the majors yet. He’s the owner of a .153/.244/.222 line in 82 plate appearances as a Giant. Like Shaw, Garcia was seen as a promising farmhand in the past, but he stumbled to a .229/.270/.419  mark in 111 trips to the plate in San Francisco from 2018-19.

Humphreys was the return the Giants received from the Mets for outfielder Billy Hamilton last August. The deal could go down as a wash for both sides, as Hamilton is now a free agent after making little impact with the Mets and Humphreys hasn’t contributed to the Giants. The 24-year-old barely pitched at all from 2018-19 because of arm problems.

Indians Select Five Players To 40-Man Roster

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The Indians have selected five players to their 40-man roster in advance of tonight’s deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 draft. Right-handers Carlos Vargas and Eli Morgan have been added; also joining the 40-man are infielders Nolan Jones, Gabriel Arias and Ernie Clement.

Jones, Arias and Vargas are generally regarded as among Cleveland’s top thirty prospects. Jones, in particular, is one of the top minor-leaguers in the sport. The 22-year-old third baseman has put up monster numbers throughout his time on the farm and looks like a near-term option for the Indians. José Ramírez has third base locked down in Cleveland, of course, so there’s been some speculation about Jones logging time in the corner outfield, where the MLB roster is quite a bit thinner.

Phillies Add 6 Players To 40-Man Roster

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The Phillies have added three left-handers – Kyle Dohy, Bailey Falter and Damon Jones – as well as infielder Nick Maton, righty Francisco Morales and outfielder Simon Muzziotti to their 40-man roster, the team announced. They now have 37 players on their roster.

Going by MLB.com’s rankings, the most promising player in this group is Morales, whom it places fourth overall in the Phillies’ farm system. The hard-throwing 21-year-old has a chance to morph into a workhorse at the major league level, per MLB.com. So far, Morales has topped out at Single-A ball, where he recorded a 3.82 ERA/3.51 FIP and 12.01 K/9 against 4.28 BB/9 in 96 2/3 innings in 2019.

Muzziotti (No. 11), Maton (13), Jones (15) and Dohy (27) are also among the Phillies’ top 30 prospects. All of those players are homegrown products.

Astros Select Five Players To 40-Man Roster

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The Astros are adding five players to their 40-man roster, per a team announcement. Right-handers Forrest Whitley, Tyler Ivey, Jairo Solis and Peter Solomon were all selected, as was infielder Freudis Nova.

The most notable player of the group is Whitley. Once regarded as one of the best (if not the best) pitching prospect in the sport, he’s seen his stock drop a bit over the past couple seasons due to a suspension and some struggles in the high minors. Nevertheless, it was a lock the Astros would add him to the 40-man, as the 23-year-old still has one of the better arsenals in the minors. Like Whitley, Nova and Solis were ranked among Houston’s top ten farmhands at MLB.com and virtual certainties to be added to the roster.

Brewers Add 3 To 40-Man Roster

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Catcher Mario Feliciano and right-handers Alec Bettinger and Dylan File are now on the Brewers’ 40-man roster, Will Sammon of The Athletic tweets. Their roster stands at 39 players.

All three of Feliciano (No. 4), Bettinger (24) and File (25) rank among the Brewers’ highest-regarded prospects at MLB.com. Feliciano is an offensive-minded catcher, though MLB.com writes that “his defense should be good enough to allow his bat-first profile to play at the highest level.”

Bettinger and File seem to profile as back-end starters/relievers, but they were rather effective in their most recent minor league experience in 2019. Bettinger threw 169 1/3 innings of 3.44 ERA/3.13 FIP in Double-A ball then, while File amassed 80 2/3 frames of 2.79 ERA/3.04 FIP pitching at the same level.

Marlins Add Jose Devers, Jerar Encarnacion To 40-Man Roster

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The Marlins announced that they have added infielder Jose Devers and outfielder Jerar Encarnacion to their 40-man roster, which is now full.

Devers, the cousin of Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers, joined the Marlins in the team’s trade with the Yankees centering on outfielder Giancarlo Stanton before the 2018 campaign. Still just 20 years old, Devers debuted at the High-A level in 2019 and slashed .325/.384/.365 in 138 plate appearances.

Devers is now the Marlins’ 13th-ranked prospect at MLB.com, which places Encarnacion at No. 17. Encarnacion, 23, reached High-A ball for the first time in 2019.

Red Sox Add 7 Players To 40-Man Roster; Weber, Hall Designated For Assignment

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The Red Sox designated lefty Matt Hall and righty Ryan Weber for assignment Friday afternoon, per a club announcement. Additionally, southpaw Kyle Hart cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Pawtucket.

Those three moves helped clear space for the team to select seven players to the MLB roster: catcher/infielder Connor Wong, right-hander Eduard Bazardo, third baseman Hudson Potts, righty Bryan Mata, righty Connor Seabold, outfielder Jeisson Rosario and lefty Jay Groome. All seven are now shielded from being selected in next month’s Rule 5 Draft.

It’s something of an indictment on Boston’s 2020 pitching staff that Weber, who ranked third on the team in innings pitched, was immediately cut loose. Both Hart and Hall started games for the Sox in 2020 as well. The team’s leader in innings pitched, Martin Perez, had his option bought out at season’s end.

Ownership might not have wanted to publicly acknowledge that the team punted the 2020 season, but the nature of the moves involving the team’s 2020 pitching staff speak for themselves. This club was always a long shot to contend in a deep AL East, although certainly the injury to Chris Sale and Eduardo Rodriguez’s unsettling bout with myocarditis after a Covid-19 battle didn’t help their cause. A lack of depth was always plain to see, however, and this club long looked ill-prepared to deal with inevitable injury troubles that virtually all teams encounter.

Mata, 21, has climbed as high as Double-A and has long been considered one of the organization’s better young arms. Groome probably needs some development time after injuries have slowed the former first-rounder’s career.

Several of today’s names have been added to the system via high-profile trades across the past 12 months. The 24-year-old Wong has also played in Double-A, and as one of the pieces received in the Mookie Betts/David Price blockbuster, is someone the team has high hopes for in the future. Potts is a 2016 first-rounder of the Padres who came over in the Mitch Moreland swap and has also reached the Double-A level. Rosario also landed in Boston via that swap, though he’s further from the Majors having not yet played beyond Class-A Advanced. Seabold could get a look in the rotation as soon as 2021 after coming over from the Phillies in the Brandon Workman/Heath Hembree trade.

Dodgers Add 4 To 40-Man Roster

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The Dodgers have added three right-handers – Gerardo Carrillo, Andre Jackson and Edwin Uceta – as well as outfielder Zach Reks to their 40-man roster J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group tweets.

Going by MLB.com’s rankings of the Dodgers’ farm system, Jackson is the lone prospect here who sits in the franchise’s top 30. The former 12th-round pick (2017) comes in at No. 27, though he did thrive between Single-A and High-A ball in his most recent minor league action in 2019. Jackson ended the year with a 3.06 ERA and 11.1 K/9 against 4.5 BB/9 in 114 2/3 innings.

Yankees Select Four Players To 40-Man Roster

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The Yankees are selecting four players to their 40-man roster, per a club announcement. Right-handers Roansy Contreras, Yoendrys Gomez and Alexander Vizcaino are being selected, as is infielder Oswald Peraza.

Contereas, Gomez, and Vizcaino have all yet to reach Double-A, but each ranks among New York’s top 20 farmhands at MLB.com. The same is true of Peraza, who hit .273/.348/.333 in Low-A in 2019. The well-regarded defensive shortstop is MLB.com’s fourth-ranked Yankee prospect.

Pirates Designate Trevor Williams For Assignment

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The Pirates announced Friday that they’ve designated right-hander Trevor Williams and infielder/outfielder Jose Osuna for assignment. That pair of moves allows the team to select infielder Rodolfo Castro and righty Max Kranick to the 40-man roster, protecting both from the Rule 5 Draft.

Williams has been a regular in the Pittsburgh rotation over the past three seasons and enjoyed a strong 2018 campaign, pitching to a 3.11 ERA and 3.86 FIP in 170 2/3 innings. Outside of a few strong starts early in 2020, however, it’s been mostly downhill for the 28-year-old. Over the past two seasons he’s turned in a combined 5.60 ERA and 5.45 FIP in 201 innings. With a projected salary north of $3MM, the Pirates clearly weren’t interested in tendering him a contract for the 2021 season.

The Pirates surely gauged trade interest in Williams before taking the step to designate him for assignment, so it seems unlikely another club will make a move to acquire him now. It’s possible a team could place a waiver claim, but it’s every bit as likely that he’ll simply pass through waivers, at which point he has the service time needed to become a free agent. He’d make for an affordable reclamation project for teams in search of rotation help, and the fact that he still has three years of control remaining via the arbitration process only boosts his appeal if he does indeed reach the market.

Osuna, 27, enjoyed a solid season at the plate in 2019 when he hit .264/.310/.456 with 10 big flies in 285 trips to the plate, but his 82 plate appearances in 2020 resulted in a disastrous .205/.244/.397 output. It’s clear that Osuna possesses some right-handed pop, but his career .241/.280/.430 batting line also shines a light on some severe on-base deficiencies. Osuna has experience at all four corner spots, so perhaps another team will look at him as a bench possibility if he clears waivers. He was projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to make a bit more than $1MM in 2021.

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